The Three Princes
by xalent
Summary: Continues where From the Ashes left off. This fic will only be on a short time because a friend is requesting it. It needs to be rewritten so I'll upload it again once I do so.
1. Chapter 1

Today was like any other day at the supermarket for Asher Prince. He stood at the checkout stand scanning everyone's items and bagging them. As he handed his current customer her receipt, Asher saw a face he did not recognize. He remembered every face that had walked into this supermarket. _She must be new_, he said to himself.

Asher sneaked a peak at the woman who had caught his eye. She is a true beauty. Her wavy brown hair fell lightly on her shoulders. They bounced with each step she took. Her brown eyes were lively, but he could see they bear a hint of sadness she tried hard to hide. She had a beautiful body shaped like a supermodel. She walked around with a gentle smile as she talked to her children. Then Asher started to count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven kids! How she managed to take care of so many, he had no idea. His father had trouble taking care of just him and his brother.

His heart leaped with joy as she made her way to his line. This was a good chance to hit on her. Asher wondered if she was married, but did not see a ring on her hand. Time to find out. "Hello, miss, did you find everything all right?" He noticed the seven children were staring at him curiously. Two of the children, a boy and a girl, hid behind the woman.

"Yes I did," she answered quickly as she scrimmaged through her purse.

"Are you babysitting?" Asher asked as he pushed milk past the scanner.

"No, unfortunately I'm not. These are all mine," she responded as she pulled out her credit card.

"Wow, that's quite a feat. How do you manage?" The woman looked up at Asher and stared into his green and hazel eyes. She suddenly went white, dropped her purse and fell backwards into a stand behind her. "Miss, are you alright?" Asher asked as he leaped over the counter to aid the woman.

She had ignored him and rampaged through her purse. Then, she took out a pair of broken glasses and placed them on Asher. "Harry?" she whispered before fainting.

Asher caught the woman and pulled her close. Then, two of her children walked over and tugged his shirt and said, "Daddy, please help aunty." The two had emerald green eyes that were exactly the same shade as his left eye.

Asher looked around and noticed that everyone in the supermarket was now staring his way. The last remark by the two children just made matters worse. He could hear their murmurs so he lifted the woman into his arms and walked out of the store. Behind him, the seven children followed closely as did the eyes of the people in the store. Oh how he hated when things go terribly wrong.

Asher arrived in his home ten minutes after the commotion in the store. He carried the woman into his home and lay her down on the couch. He turned to the children and said, "Can you stay here and watch over mommy until I return?" They all nodded in response.

Asher left for the kitchen and prepared refreshments and snacks for the children. When he returned, he found the woman partially awake. "Are you alright?" he asked as he sat himself down next to her. "You gave me quite a scare back at the grocery store." He had purposely left out the part about all the staring.

She was staring at him as if she had seen a ghost again. "Harry?" she asked once more.

"I'm sorry; you have mistaken me for someone else. I am Asher Prince, please to be of your acquaintance." Asher held out his hand for her to shake, but she did not take it.

"You sound exactly like him. You looked exactly like him. Except for your hazel right eye." She clasped her hand to her mouth as she sobbed. Tears were streaming down her rosy cheeks. "I was told James Potter's eyes were hazel. You're Harry Potter!" Then she looked at his forehead. "Where's your scar?"

Asher just looked at the woman as she sobbed. This had happened before. Many times. So he continued the routine his father had given him. "I am not Harry Potter. I wish I were. It would make your tears go away. I would also hate to lie to you."

Suddenly, the front door burst open and a man shouted, "ASHER PRINCE WHAT THE—" he stopped when he saw the sobbing woman Asher held in his arms and the seven children around her. "Oh."

The woman looked up and saw the man. He had long black hair, black eyes, and a face she would never forget. "SEVERUS SNAPE!" She screamed as she drew her wand at the man.

"Hello, Miss Granger. I am terribly sorry for your losses." He gave a bow. "You can drop the act, Asher. I doubt you will be able to fool her like the others."

"What are you doing here, Snape," she hissed with a spiteful glare.

"This is my—" the older man began, but was cut short.

"Hey, Asher!" another voice called out from the kitchen. "What did you do to get the whole town—" He, too, stopped short when he entered the living room and saw the guest.

The woman leaped from Asher's arms, grabbed the third many by the collar and slammed him against him wall. She pushed the tip of her wand against his throat and whispered, "Why aren't you dead, Draco Malfoy?" Asher moved to restrain the woman, but Severus stopped him. "Why are you and Snape still alive while everyone else died? And why did you not come back to us, Harry?"

"Because I am dead, Hermione. I've been dead for five years now." She turned towards Asher and found that he had not spoken a word. She suddenly noticed another figure standing next to her. He had black hair and a pair of emerald green eyes. There was a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. "Calm down and let them explain everything. Also, Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape are dead." Hermione released her grip on the silver haired man and took her seat next to her children. She was calm once more and her tears had dried. "I'm sorry, Hermione. Goodbye." The man disappeared leaving the four adults and seven children alone.

"Well, I suppose we should start from the beginning," Severus started. "Yes, as you had suspected, they were Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy and I was Severus Snape. However we cast our names away a long time ago."

"Wait," Draco said, interrupting Severus. "There is one last thing I wish to do as Draco Malfoy." From his pocket, he took out a small box and handed it to Hermione. "It's a pensieve. It holds the memories of Ron's last moments."

They watched as Hermione cried when she watched the memory held in the pensieve. They three had seen it before. It was addressed to all of them. When the memory ended, Severus continued their tale.

Hermione could not believe the tale at first. The shock that Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter (or rather Franklin Prince, Benicio Black and Asher Prince respectively) were still alive had made her mind foggy. "So you're saying that the three of you were taken out of time, trained with the Founders and returned here with all your ages changed?"

"That sounds about right," Benicio responded. "As for how we live, Frank saved me, Asher spared Frank and I saved Asher. In that order."

It was hard to believe. Sev—Franklin and Benicio hated Asher and vice versa, yet now they lived together as a family. Franklin Prince is the father and Asher Prince and Benicio Black are his adopted sons.

"I know this is hard to believe, Hermione, but this is the truth," Franklin said.

All three of them had changed drastically in the five years they were gone. Well, it was five years for Hermione. Frank once had oily hair and always held a disgusted look on his face. He had cut it short which gave him a younger look. He never smiled before let alone laughed. Perhaps Severus Snape had died. Frank is now a kind and gentle man who cared very much for his family. He held two jobs, one at the post office, which he worked during the day, and a second at a local bar, which he owned.

Benicio still had his silver hair and eyes, but he grew stockier. When he left the house, he changed his hair black and put on black contacts to hide his silver eyes. He was no longer the same scrawny little prat who walked around as if he owned everything. However, he was still arrogant. Just not so much as before when he was Draco Malfoy.

And last, Asher. He had remained quite throughout the whole discussion. The only time he spoke was when they talked about their time with the Founders. Asher had little recollection as his time as Harry Potter. It was amazing that he lived without a scratch. Five years ago, when they returned to the Riddle House, they found Harry's burnt body lying in the ruins. Apparently, that had been a fake body Ben created to make it look like Harry died. Then again, Harry did die. His soul had been connected to Voldemort's and when Voldemort died, Harry's was taken along. Hermione looked at Asher wondering how much of Harry remained.

"I was told that my soul was split into two parts. One was Harry Potter. I am the other half. Harry was offered to live again, but he chose to leave this place," Asher said to Hermione answering the question in the back of her mind.

"Legilimensy!" She shouted realizing how Asher knew. "I thought you lost your ability to do magic!"

"Almost all of it. I'm not sure exactly how I was able to retain Legilimensy or Occlumensy, but I did. It's a nice skill to have when you are trying to become a lawyer," he answered with a smile. "The only other magic I have left is to summon the souls of the dead. I can only do that once or twice a day."

"I suppose you are wondering who you wish to see, are you not?" Frank asked looking at Hermione. She nodded, but still did not trust Frank or Ben. They had betrayed her once and had always been her enemy. She had to stay cautious.

"You will worry yourself to death, Hermione, if you keep thinking they are enemies," Asher said. He had read her mind once more. How he did it without her knowing blew her mind. "The founders would never tell me that secret. They had the same abilities as well. I suppose they did not want someone to abuse this power."

"You don't have to decide who you want to see more, Hermione." This time it was Ben who spoke. "Now that you are here with the children, it means it is about time the eleven of us left. You will see everyone who has passed away."

"What do you mean?" she asked in fear. She pulled her children close and away from the three men. Their cold and serious looks only made matters worse.

"Today is when this world ends," the three answered in unison.


	2. Chapter 2

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "End of the World? This is a joke right?"

"No it isn't," a familiar voice answered. She turned to see Albus Dumbledore standing in one corner of the room. Then, the spirits of all those she loved and lost began to appear. She saw her parents who walked to her side. Then Ron who looked at Hermione with a smile and then down at his three children: Andrew, Michael and Jenny. Harry and Ginny stood together as they looked at their two children, James and Lily. Bill and Fleur appeared next as they found their way to their two twin daughters, Amber and Emily. Then the rest of the Weasley family appeared and smiled proudly at Hermione. Spirits of her deceased friends continued to pour into the home. When all of them were here, Hermione glanced at Franklin, Benicio and Asher who had an 'I told you so' look on their faces.

Then just as the souls entered the room, they left saying their farewells. Hermione was not ready for this second goodbye. She did not understand why they had to leave. Hermione tried to run after them, but Benicio took a hold of her and held her back. "They will protect us and your children. They will protect us as we leap through time and space to a world similar to this one where we will begin a new journey. We will see all of them again."

Suddenly, the world around her disappeared. They were surrounded in darkness. Hermione let out a scream. A painful memory of the past reemerged. She fought and struggled but then a set of arms wrapped itself around her. "Hush, it's alright. We are all here for you." The voice belonged to Benicio, but it was soothing. She relaxed and fell asleep in his arms.

Hermione woke to the sound of two men arguing. She looked around and found her seven children running around the room having fun. It made her smile. Hermione got out of bed and walked to the door. When she opened it, she found Benicio and Asher arguing.

The two turned and stopped arguing. "Good morning, sister. Meet your new husband!" Asher said with a mischievous grin pointing to Benicio.

"What?" Hermione shouted. "I'm married to Draco! When did this—" the two quickly rushed forward and place their hands on her mouth. She struggled to break free when Franklin entered the room.

"Settle down, the three of you. I'm sorry to have to do this without your permission, but I have decided Benicio will be your husband." Hermione saw Benicio turn away to hide his scarlet red face. "My two idiotic sons tried to push that responsibility to the other so I had to be the judge. Benicio's twenty-six and you're twenty-four. It makes more sense age wise. I doubt you would want to have a husband six years younger than you are."

"Actually, it's nine years until September 16th.

"This also makes it easier because Benicio—" Benicio cast his adoptive father a deadly glance stopping the older man from finishing his sentence. "Well, you'll figure it out sooner or later. On the outside, the two of you are officially married." Franklin continued to explain. "The reality of it is that the two of you aren't married. There is no marital bond binding the two of you together. The marriage is there so all of us are allowed to live in Hogwarts including the children."

Hermione glance at the former potion master curiously. The Snape she knew would never have done this. Franklin's personality was nothing like Snape's.

"If you have any trouble with your new husband, just come talk to me! I'll be more than happy to give him a good kick in the ass!" Asher said aloud while laughing. When Hermione saw how red Benicio's face was, she could not help but laugh. That was something she never seen from Draco.

Then Hermione remembered something Franklin had said. "Hogwarts?" she asked curiously.

"Yes. Hogwarts. And if you hadn't noticed, we're in The Three Broomsticks." Franklin kindly pointed out. Hermione suddenly felt feint and fell backwards.

Asher launched forward to catch her, but Benicio was faster. He apparated behind her and caught her with his strong arms. "Are you alright?" he asked as Asher pouted and brought over a glass of water.

"Three Broomsticks?" Hermione whispered softly after a sip of water.

"Yes," answered Benicio as he helped her over to a chair. Her children were once again around her with their worried looks. "Asher, can you take the children outside and entertain them with your tricks for a while?"

"Come on, kids. I think we need to let your mother and Benicio talk in private for a while." Asher looked back at Hermione and knew what was on her mind. "Relax, sis. They won't hurt you. I know this is all happening so fast, but let them help you. They can do a far better job than I can." Then, Asher took out a pack of cards and performed several tricks as he walked out the door.

"Hogsmeade was destroyed," Hermione began with the obvious.

"Yes and no," Franklin answered. "Our Hogsmeade was destroyed, but we are no longer in our world anymore. We have jumped across several dimension planes into another reality. Again, I am terribly sorry that you must take in all this information so quickly. The Founders were idiots and thought we would be enough to guide you through this. If Harry were here, we probably could. Unfortunately, we only have my idiotic son Asher."

"The four of us are sent here to fix this world," Benicio continued. "We will have a better understanding once we arrive in Hogwarts, but right now they are on their summer break. We thought three months would be enough time for you to take in everything. I'm sorry to have to put you through this."

"I'm not that weak!" she said to Benicio with anger.

"Yes you are, Hermione. You were strong once. I do not doubt that. I still remember how hard your punch is." That statement made Hermione laugh. She remembered very well when she punched Benicio in their third year at Hogwarts. "But you are broken now. You have suffered alone for far too long. All of us wished we could be there for you, but I doubt anyone besides Ron would let any of us near you."

Hermione sensed pain in Benicio's voice, but he did not show it. Neither did Franklin. But they showed they were worried. They had not tried to hide that but just let it show. Maybe the two ex-Death Eaters had changed. Or maybe this was a trick. They both betrayed her trust once. She will not be so foolish to let them do so again.

Asher led the seven children outside and showed them some simple tricks like making the card in his hand disappear or find the card they had drawn. These were simple tricks, but it hardly impressed the crowd. Asher was able to amuse the children and was content until a man walked over and said, "Is this what muggles call magic? They can't even make a card disappear correctly!"

This angered Asher, but he did not let it show. "Well, sir, I am simply performing these simple tricks to keep these children amused," he responded as he shuffled the cards again. "I do not see why you would ever show interests in these tricks if you were not a child." Asher could sense his words had the effect on the man he desired.

He was a skilled Legimens after all. One so skillful that he would peer into another's mind without them knowing, or having to make eye contact. The man slammed his fist on the table and it made the children jump. A couple started to cry. "Ah, look what you have done. You made Jenny and Michael cry." Asher knelt down to comfort and took his eyes off of Amber and Emily for one moment.

Suddenly, two pies hit the man in the face. Asher turned around and saw the twins rolling on the ground laughing. The others joined in, but it only fueled the man's anger. He reached out with his right arm to grab on of the twins, but Asher took a hold of his wrist. He looked up with a smile on his face and asked kindly, "I must ask you to calm down, sir. I'm afraid these two children retaliated in response to you frightening the others." When the man would not listen, Asher's face changed and glared at the man.

The man fell back a step and stopped his advance on the children. "Now," Asher said with a smile, "earlier you stated that my muggle tricks were not up to par with full fledged witches and wizards. For that, I must apologize. To do so, I will perform an array of tricks that I am proud to say will satisfy each and every one of you. First and foremost, I must tell everyone here that I am a squib and unable to cast spells." It was a lie, but no one needed to know he was once Harry Potter but after dueling Voldemort he had lost all his powers. "All of my tricks are learned and perfected through practice. I will start with a basic performance and gradually work my way up to the more difficult tricks."

Asher took the deck of cards from the table and shuffled them while he waited for his audience to gather. When they finally formed a circle, Asher began. "This is a full deck with fifty two cards. I will place the two jokers on this table. For starters, I will make this entire deck disappear so that not a single one of you will find it." As expected, not a single wizard believed him.

"First, you may all test your Accio spell one at a time." As the audience tested the spell, he removed his jacket and began. He flipped the cards from one hand to another, flipped it back, fanned it out and with one swift movement sliced the cards through the air. The next moment, the cards were gone. "Now, where are they?" He watched as everyone tried their Accio spell, but with no effect.

The audience began to throw accusations at Asher, but none that he had not heard before. "Well, since none of you are able to summon the cards, why not use detectors or detection spells? Surely they would work." Asher sat himself down and waited patiently. He looked over to Amber and Emily and smiled. They had already figured out his trick. He let a few more minutes pass before standing up and saying, "Well, it seems none of you were able to find the cards. If I told you where they were, it would no longer be a trick I can perform."

Asher took the two remaining cards from the table and threw one into the air. He threw the second card a moment later. It flew at an angle so it would arch up towards the first card. Then, the second card cut the first in half. At that same moment, the other fifty-two cards reappeared and rained down on the crowd. "How I performed this trick, I will not say. Those of you who figured it out, I must ask you not to say anything." Asher knew the only two people in this room who figured out the trick were the twin girls Amber and Emily.

Suddenly, he heard a roaring voice call out, "ASHER PRINCE!" That was the voice of his father and he knew exactly why his father was shouting. "What did I tell you about those tricks?"

Asher looked up at his father, brother and Hermione. "You said not to perform any fancy tricks, father." He met his father's angry glare with a mischievous smile.

"And why did I ask you to do that?"

"To prevent something like this from happening." He could see Benicio double over on the second floor and laughing before their father glared at Benicio. Asher turned around and noticed that the twin girls had already mastered how to perform the trick. "Oh, dear…" Asher muttered. He had not expected this to happen.


	3. Chapter 3

Three months passed without much incident. This was only because Asher could not leave the room. So, he spent every passing day performing tricks to the seven children and amused himself as they all tackled every trick. As he expected, the eldest twins, Amber and Emily, were always the first to figure it out. James and Andrew were next. The two always battled to see who came in second. Lily, Michael and Jenny, however, could never figure it out. The three just watched the other four perform the tricks again.

Although the twin girls were always the first to understand and master the trick, it was always James who found a new way to perform the trick. Andrew, determined not to be outdone, was usually the first to create a new trick. However, neither of the two boys could match the twins' creativity. They were able to make new tricks that gave Asher a hard time to figure out.

Today, the twin girls performed a new trick that made the cards pass through glass. Asher thought about the trick and how it was performed, but had no luck. It was completely mind boggling. They just took a stack of cards and shot it at the window. Most cards bounce off, but one single card, which happens to be the one he picked, gets stuck to the window and on the other side. They also figured how to pull the card through the glass and into the room without harming the glass.

As he was in middle of his thoughts, Skylar walked through the door. During the first week, he, Benicio and his father Franklin decided that Hermione could not keep her name. They feared that there might exist another Hermione Granger in this world. So, the three each came up with a name. Hermione opted not to think of a name since she liked the name she was given at birth.

Asher had chose Amaris while his brother chose Skylar and his father chose Audrey. They presented it to Hermione and she decided to go with Skylar. Asher smiled at the irony of how she chose her name. Of the three men, Hermione hated and distrusted Benicio the most, yet she chose the name he came up with.

"Have a nice trip with your hubby, Sky?" Asher teased as he helped her bring in several bags of new clothes and books.

"Shut up, Ash," she said with a cold glare. "How were the kids?"

"Frederica and Georgia are staying out of trouble." Skylar glared again knowing that Asher was talking about Amber and Emily. "What? It's a fitting nickname!"

Skylar just turned away. Yes, the nicknames fit far too well. Somehow, the two oldest twins turned out exactly like their Uncles Fred and George. "I specifically asked you to look after them so they would **not **turn out like the two prankster twins. Instead, you just fuel their creativity and think of 'fitting nicknames'. Why couldn't you just listen to your father? It would be much better if Ben was watching the kids."

"So you trust your new hubby now? That was quick." Asher teased again. This time a fist hit his shoulder knocking him to the ground. He looked up to meet the deadly glare of Skylar as she shook her fist at him. "You know, violence is a bad influence on kids." Now he could see Skylar's eyes sparkle. This was a bad sign. A knife flew at this face, but he dodged before it left a nasty scar. Another knife flew at him, but it suddenly froze in midair and dropped to the ground. "Saved at last!" Asher sighed in relief.

"You know it's not good to tick Sky off, Ash," Franklin stated as he walked past his son.

"Ah, but watching Sky struggle in Ben's arms makes it all worth it!" Asher laughed as he watched Skylar try to break free from Benicio's powerful grasp. Most women had a hard time breaking free, but Skylar was not like most women. Several times she had almost broken free. Usually Asher would be far out of her reach by then.

"You weren't ever this annoying back then!" Skylar shouted at Asher as Ben tried his best to calm her down while restraining her. "How did the roles switch from Ben being the target of my anger and you holding me back to you being the target of my anger and Ben holding me back?!"

"Well, there's a simple reason. Ben—" Asher never had a chance to finish when Benicio released Skylar. He leaped into the air as Skylar charged at him filled with fury.

A sudden door knock stopped Skylar in her tracks. Asher let out a silent sigh of relief as he looked towards the door. Franklin walked over and opened the door. It seemed his father had been expecting someone.

When Franklin opened the door, he found himself face to face with a tall man who had a tawny mane with grey bushy eyebrows and sharp yellow eyes behind his glasses. It only took a moment for Franklin, Benicio and Skylar to recognize who the man is. "Rufus Scrimgeour," he introduced himself as he held out a hand. His other remained on his walking cane.

Besides the children, Asher was the only one who did not recognize the man. As Harry Potter, he met the old man before, but the part of him that was Harry Potter died. He just smiled kindly and made sure he stayed out of trouble. Who knows what Rufus would do if Asher decided to play a prank.

"Good day, Headmaster," Franklin greeted as he shock the headmaster's hand. "I am Franklin Prince. The two young men are my adopted sons Benicio Black," he introduced as he pointed to Benicio, "and Asher Prince. The young woman there is my daughter in law, Skylar Black. She has seven children from her previous marriage." Franklin doubted the old man would have any interest for children. He never did before. So Franklin invited the old headmaster to take a seat at the table.

Asher watched carefully as Rufus as the old man scanned the room with his eyes. He first looked at Franklin, then to Benicio, and then to him. Asher could feel the old man peering into his mind, but he just placed some random memories for the man to access. He couldn't let on that he was more than a squib. The man gave a scoff as he turned away. However, Asher was already in the mind of Rufus and knew where he was going to look next.

Asher stood up from his seat and walked in front of Skylar making it impossible for the headmaster to look into Skylar's eyes. It only took a moment for the Rufus to realizes how cold Benicio's stare was before turning back to Franklin.

"So, you are seeking a job at Hogwarts. Which position did you have in mind?"

This man gets straight to the point, Franklin thought. "Defense against the Dark Arts. That was the subject I taught before I had left my school for personal reasons."

"What were your reasons for leaving?" the man pressed. Again, Frank felt the man trying to probe his mind.

"As I stated before, I left for personal reasons."

For the first time, Benicio noticed a sweat of insecurity drip down his father's forehead. He could see that Franklin did not have a plan. Benicio knew why. All of them had expected Albus Dumbledore to be the headmaster at Hogwarts. Then again, Albus was killed in their world by none other than his father. He had a part in it as well. But this was a different world from theirs, yet still the same; almost.

Benicio acknowledge that it was a mistake to not spend time researching the state of the world they were now in. But it would soon be rectified. He looked over to his father and saw the acknowledgment in his father's eyes. He then looked over to his brother and let Asher peer into his mind.

"What skills and knowledge do you have?" Rufus did not look pleased that Franklin had not answered his question to his content. Franklin could see he was loosing the headmaster. Then again, Franklin knew that the headmaster had not wanted to give the position of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher to him when he opened the door. The headmaster only came out of common courteously, something that he wished both of his two sons would learn sooner rather than later.

Franklin looked over to Asher signaling him to go before turning back to face the old man. "I am well versed in potion making, as I was a potion master before I taught Defense against the Dark Arts."

"Where did you say you taught again?"

Damn, Franklin cursed. He had hoped the old man would not ask this question. The truthful answer would be 'Hogwarts', but he highly doubted the headmaster to believe that. The Rufus he knew was suspicious of everyone. It seems nothing had changed. "I never said," he answered, with high hopes it would be enough.

"Is that one of you secrets you wish not to reveal?"

Oh how Franklin hated the man sitting before him. He needed to buy some time for Asher to gather information. At least there was something his worthless prankster son was good at. "No, not at this time. I sense that you are a suspicious man, Headmaster. I mean it not as an insult. I am suspicious myself. It is one of the reasons why I had left my previous school."

And so the fabrication of his past began. He would have to weave in the stories of his two adopted sons and Skylar, but that could be done later. Right now Franklin needed to focus on getting the position as teacher for Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. "I have learned to seldom place trust in strangers. Who knows what others could use information about you for." He saw a slight sparkle in Rufus Scrimgeour's yellow eyes. Seems like he had to play a politician after all.

"Elaborate on your skills and knowledge of both subjects."

"I can brew any potion you want. Elixirs, antidotes, poisons, you name it. I also have created several potions of my own; most notably Wolfbane. It allows a werewolf to retain his human mind while in his transformed state." That caught the headmaster's attention. Judging the reaction, Franklin could safely assume his old werewolf pal Remis Lupin was still in Hogwarts.

"And your knowledge of the Dark Arts?"

_I could easily match old Moody's knowledge and skill_, Franklin answered silently. He also made a note that the headmaster had asked 'Dark Arts'. _Clever old fart_, he cursed. _But not clever enough_. After living with his two troublemaking sons, Franklin had learned not to assume anything. "I have some knowledge in the Dark Arts. It is, after all, necessary to have some knowledge of the Dark Arts to defend against it."

Rufus place a hand on his chin and rubbed it. It was an interesting choice of words. This was a trick question he always used on prospective teachers for Defense against the Dark Arts. Most denied having any knowledge at first. The following question that he usually asks would confirm that they had knowledge of the Dark Arts and therefore gave him adequate reason to not hire them. He always had Alastor Moody teach Defense against the Dark Arts. It usually scared off any future Dark Arts users.

Of all his years as Headmaster, he did not think someone would ever evade his trick question. "Have you performed any Dark spells before?"

"Yes I have. One must perform the spell to fully understand the risks, harms and the reason it is called Dark Arts. You may tell a child not to do something, but the curiosity will always remain. Knowing is not enough when it comes to the Dark Arts. Experiencing is often necessary to understand. Of course there are exceptions." Franklin could see that he had sold himself to the sly old headmaster for the time being. If he wanted to keep his job, he would need to know much more than the fact that the year was 1995.


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione Granger found her way through the streets of Hogsmeade without much trouble. Usually one of the rival quintets was there to make her life even more miserable than it already is. She had just bought herself a new book and held it close to her chest with pride. It was rare that she had enough money to buy a new book. Or have a new book in her possession. The trouble making quintets were always there to play some kind of prank that always involved destroying her books.

She could not let this happen. Hermione had saved every coin she received from working at Hog's Head. Her job was to clean every table, chair, floor, window, dish, mug and room. If it we not for her, the Hog's Head would still be a messy old wreck it was before. Majority of her work went to pay for a permanent room at the Inn. The Three Broomsticks had not been so kind. The inn owner did not want to show the world that it forced a five-year-old to work just for a place to stay and food to eat.

Her only other choice then was the Hog's Head. It was the only place where no body cared about her as long as she did her work. Hermione worked hard to earn her pay. It was not much, but just enough to get by a year at Hogwarts if the two infamous quartets left her alone. Ten years had she worked at Hog's Head. Ten years had she suffered the scolding and beating of the innkeeper when she did not perform her duties. But this will all end in three more years. This will all end when she graduates from Hogwarts. At least someone was kind enough to let Hermione enter without reaching 11 years of age.

Hermione was sure this year would be different. She would not let them ruin her book again! Just as the entrance of Hog's Head came into view, something flew in her direction. Instinctively, she used her book to block, but then realized she had fallen into another one of their pranks. A dart hit her brand new Advance Potions book and in a second it was set on fire. She tossed it on the ground and raised her wand to put out the fire, but found that it was not where she had placed it last. Hermione raised her head and saw a silver streak and knew who it was. Without her wand, Hermione did the only option she had left in putting out the fire. She stomped on it hoping to stop the flame before the book was destroyed.

As if having one quintet playing a prank was not enough, a gallon of water splashed on her and she heard a familiar voice call out, "No need to thank us for our help!" Hermione turned to see the pair of green eyes before the boy turned away. The boy laughed as the three others joined him.

Hermione did not laugh. Most targets of the two quintets laughed afterwards, but not Hermione. She silently gathered the remains of her once brand new Advance Potions book and her wand and walked up into her room. She had thought about changing out of her wet robes, but Hermione just walked up another set of stairs to the roof.

She loathed when books were destroyed, even the books she hated. Hermione held great respect to books since it documented history that was long lost to the people of the present as well as containing valuable information. But she hated it even more when her books were destroyed. Unlike everyone else at Hogwarts, she had no family. Her parents were muggles and when they found out she was a witch, they cast her out of the family. She had no home, no money, and no family to return to. When Hermione reached the roof, she let herself break down into tears and screamed.

In the beginning, it helped, but now, nothing seemed to dull the pain. Hermione cursed her fate. She hated the fact that she was thrown out. She hated the fact that she was Muggle born. She hated her life. She hated everything around her. The only thing she cherished was the books she read. Now, they were taken away from her.

When Hermione woke, she found herself wrapped in a green muggle coat that she did not recognize. She also felt two arms wrapped around her providing her with warmth. For a moment, she cherished it, but then quickly got out and pushed away. "Who are you?" she questioned with her wand poised at the man who held her. He had messy dark brown hair that dangled lightly across his face, but it was not long enough to obscure his vision. The man opened both his eyes revealing one that was emerald green while the other was hazel. He gave her a gentle smile as he stood up from his seat. He wore a sleeveless brown turtleneck that wrapped tightly around his thin but muscular body and a pair of long baggy black cargo pants.

"I'm just your everyday wanderer," he said as he held out his green coat out to her. The man stood nearly a head taller than her. "Take it; you need it more than I do." He was right as a cold gust of wind sent shivers through her body. "Well, after the stunt those boys pulled on you, I hardly doubt you would trust anyone. However, I am nothing more than a magicless squib. You can keep your wand poised at me if you wish, but all I ask is for you to take my coat and keep yourself warm. The innkeeper doesn't seem like the type of man who would give pity to the sick."

Hermione snatched the coat from the man's hand and put it on. For a moment she thought the coat was magical. It warmed her up the moment she put it on. "Who are you?" she asked again.

"A wandering squib," the man answered cheerfully as he sat back down and closed his eyes. "You know, tears don't belong on such a beautiful face like yours. You should smile more often. I am pretty sure your smile can send someone to the afterlife or bring someone from the afterlife back to life."

She found herself blushing to his comment before realizing he was hitting on her. _Men!_ She cursed silently in her mind.

As Hermione stomped off back to the stairway when the man called out, "I'm sorry! I should have been more careful. It seems like you do not trust men and with good reason."

Why had she paused to listen? Hermione asked herself. Angry, she continued to stalk off.

"I doubt you have any more cleaning to do," the man stated as he got out from his seat and followed her.

"Why do you think that? And why are you following me?" she asked angrily. However, Hermione was angrier at herself than the man with the mismatched eyes. Why had she allowed herself to be coaxed into a conversation? This was not like her.

"To answer your first question, I gathered up all the boys who played a part in destroying your book and forced them to clean the place. Without magic." Hermione turned to face the man who held a grin across his face. "Ask the owner if you don't believe me."

And so she did. The owner just grunted a response. Hermione turned to the man and wondered how a squib could manage to force the ten most mischievous boys at Hogwarts to clean the entire inn without magic. It just increased her curiosity towards the mysterious man with mismatched eyes. He just smiled. It seemed like he was always smiling.

"To answer your second question, I came here to give you this," in one swift movement, the man produced a large book and handed it to Hermione. The cover looked new, but the pages inside looked warn out. "Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage. I have no doubt this book will be most helpful in your studies and you will have great interest in the notes. I must warn you though; some of the spells are Dark. Don't be scared. My father always says that it is only through experiencing dark magic can we fully understand it. This book was his when he studied potions."

Hermione looked suspiciously at the man. This book had notes of Dark magic? Could she trust this man? "My, my, you really don't trust men, do you? Then again, I am also a stranger, so there really isn't a reason for you to trust me." From his pocket, he took out a small pouch and handed it to Hermione. "There's enough money in there to buy you new books, robes and a decent wand at Ollivanders. However, I suggest you keep this book here. You may ignore the spells if you choose, but the instructions on potion making are from the best."

Reluctantly, Hermione accepted the book. She flipped through it and found hundreds of scratch marks crossing out words replaced by the owner's own notes. It bothered her that the book was in this state, but it was the book she wanted. She looked up at him, but before she could say something, he smiled and said, "Take it. The book's yours. It's my gift to you."

A sudden emotion took over Hermione's body for a moment. It felt like a gust of wind lifting her off of the ground. It also felt oddly familiar. She tried to think back to when she felt this way last, but the memory just would not come. Then she saw the man walk towards the door. She ran after him and called out, "Wait! Where're you going?"

"Shopping. Want to come?" He turned back and said with a wide gentle smiled across his face. Hermione nodded quickly and ran upstairs to put away his gift. After putting away her book, she quickly ran back downstairs and found the man waiting for her by the doorway. "Ready?" he asked.

Hermione nodded and walked up to the stranger. "Where are we going?"

"Diagon Alley," he replied with a grin.

"Wait? How are we—" she asked, but the man just took out a pack of cards and flung it into the air. The next moment, Hermione found herself with the stranger in the middle of Diagon Alley. "How did we—" she started, but never finished as she was immediately enchanted by her surroundings.

The man laughed and said, "It seems like this is your first time here. I had the same reaction when I first came too. As for how we got here, let's just say my magic tricks are sometimes magical." He let her lead the way allowing the teenage girl to explore wherever she wanted.

Hermione wondered if she had ever been this happy in her life. She wandered from shop to shop and carefully spent the money the man had given her. She bought a new set of robes, cauldron, several potion ingredients and a few pens. When she looked back at the stranger, he just smiled at her while carrying all her new possessions. Hermione smiled in return.

"You know, that's the first time I've seen you smile since we've met," the man said as she walked up to Hermione. She lowered her head and tried to hide her blush, but the man just placed a hand on her chin and lifted it up. "Your smile is truly a blessing," he complimented with a serious look.

Hermione knew her face was red in embarrassment. When she looked over to the side, she could see some of the adults staring at her and the stranger. She pushed away quickly and walked away. Behind her, Hermione could hear the man laugh. She came to a stop before a corner shop. Hermione peered into the shop and noticed hundreds of different animals.

Excitedly, Hermione entered the shop and looked around. Unlike her peers, Hermione was not given a familiar in her first year. Most of her peers had owls that brought letters and gifts from home. Hermione just sat alone eating her meal and reading her books. She took her time to browse through the various familiars.

"Have any particular familiar you would like to have?" the stranger asked as he was also looking around. "I don't think owls will suit you well." Hermione turned to the stranger as she reached the owl section. "It was just a suggestion." He continued to gaze around the small shop. She noticed he paid more attention to the more deadly familiars like the snakes and the wolves.

Suddenly, a small animal leaped from the shadows at Hermione. She let out a soft cry as a cat fell into her arms. It curled up and purred softly. Then, a woman came running through the aisle. "Oh!" she said in surprise as she saw the cat in Hermione's arms. "I've never seen him so calm before!"

"Really?" Hermione looked down at the cat in her arms.

"He's normally really feisty when we have customers. It's not a normal sight when he's curled up like that. It seems he really likes you."

"It seems like you like the cat too," the stranger said as he walked over.

"What makes you think that?" Hermione asked as she pet the cat.

"Well, if you didn't like it, you would have tossed it on the ground. Nor would the cat have jumped into your arms in the first place." She glared at the stranger wondering how the man seemed like he was sensing her thoughts.

"I'll take it," she said as she let the cat onto the ground. Hermione took out her pouch and paid the kind shopkeeper.

When they left the shop, the stranger asked, "Have you thought of a name for your familiar?"

"Yes," Hermione responded with a smile. "Crookshanks. He'll be Crookshanks." The stranger laughed out loud and when he was able to control it, she asked, "What's so funny?"

The stranger looked at Hermione with his mismatched eyes and responded, "An old friend of mine had a cat named Crookshanks. He was one smart cat though."

Hermione and the stranger walked a few paces before stopping at an old shop. "So, we're finally at Ollivanders." Hermione nodded in agreement before they stepped into the shop together.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ah, welcome! I haven't seen either of your faces before," Ollivander greeted as he walked out of his storage room. "Come to replace your wand?"

Hermione shuffled through the pouch and noticed she had only a few coins left. She was about to answer before the man cut in and said, "We're looking for a brand new wand for the girl." Hermione gave a glare at the man. "Don't worry," he said with a smile. It seems he was never without one. With a flick of his wrist, another pouch of coins appeared.

"How do you do that?" Hermione asked curiously. It seems this man is able to produce anything with his hands. "How do you make things appear in your hand?"

"It's a secret," he said with a wink. "It isn't everyday that muggle magic tricks can impress witches and wizards."

"Indeed," Ollivander agreed with the man. "Let's see…" From his shelves, Ollivander took out a small box and opened it. "Let's try this one. Nine and a quarter inches. Made from oak and has the hair of a unicorn as the core." Hermione took the wand and gave it a simple whirl which sent a blade of wind that crashed through the shop.

"Nope," Ollivander said as he retrieved the wand and went back to search for another. When he returned, he held out another wand and said, "Ten and a half inches. Made from ebony and has a phoenix feather as its core."

Again, Hermione gave a flick. This time, a puff of white smoke appeared.

"Nope. Not this one either."

Ollivander turned to search for another wand when the man spoke out, "May I make a suggestion?" Ollivander turned to face the young man with curious eyes. "This may sound odd, but I think you should bring out the dual cored wands."

Hermione looked at the stranger with a confused look on her face. She did not doubt Ollivander did not have the same expression. "Dual core?" she asked the stranger.

"They are wands that are made with two matching magical core materials." To Hermione's surprise, it was Ollivander who spoke. "Few attempts have been made to create such a wand because of the difficulty of finding two matching cores and the process of fusing them together."

"But you do have a few here in this store." Ollivander eyed the young man as he spoke wondering how the young man knew about the dual core wands he had kept hidden in his store. Unable to discern how the man found out, Ollivander went back into his storage room.

When Ollivander returned, he brought out three boxes. He placed them on the table and allowed Hermione to choose from the three. Hermione glanced at the tree wands. They were different from the normal wands she saw. She studied them carefully, but Ollivander knew the question on her mind. "To support two cores, the wand needed at least three different types of casing. The first is on the inside which is used to fuse the cores together. A second layer is added on top of the first to ensure the power does not flow out uncontrollably and a third is used to make the handle so the wielder of the wand is not harmed by the power of the wand."

Hermione nodded in acknowledgment and carefully scanned the three wands. She looked up at the stranger and, for a moment, thought she saw worry in his eyes. He just smiled in return. As she reached down to pick up the wand she chose, the heard a loud roar as a strong gust of wind ripped through the shop and tore hundreds of wands from the shelves. When the wind stopped, they all found a wand floating in the air before Hermione.

The top half of the wand was black with white strands weaving through it. It was shiny and smooth. The second half was a split between wood and ebony and laced with gold. She assumed that was the handle and reached out to grab it. When Hermione touched the wand, power surged through her body and she heard a sudden crack. She looked down and found her old wand snapped in half.

"Nine and three quarter inches. The first layer is made from graphite. The second layer is marble. The handle is made from rosewood and has a casing made from a dragon's bone. As for the cores, one is a feather from an Angel while the other is from a Devil." Ollivander stated in complete surprise. This was one of the dual core wands made in the time of the Founders. No one had ever been able to claim it. There were two more that completed the set of the three most unique dual core wands. He looked over to the young man and found a smiling face while petting the girl's cat to calm it down. Ollivander wondered if the man was surprise at all by the turn of events.

"Don't worry, Ollivander, the pouch doesn't just hold coins," the young man said as he escorted Hermione out the door. "I hope you like it!"

Ollivander quickly looked into the pouch. He wondered what the young man was referring to so he dumped out the coins. The coins rang as it clanked on his surface, but an object caught his attention. "This couldn't be!" Ollivander exclaimed as he picked up a small blue stone. "A Dragon Heartstone?" he whispered in disbelief.

Benicio searched his room once more. This must have been his fourth time, but what he was looking for was not here. It was one of his most prized possessions and he had very few of those. He had earned that stone during his time with the Founders. Although he won it purely by luck, Benicio would never forget the face on Salazar Slytherin's face. The stone was all that reminded him of that day since none of the Founders allowed him to keep the actual memories of his time there.

"Looking for something, Ben?" a gentle voice asked. He turned to see Skylar holding the sleeping Jenny against her shoulder.

Benicio smiled at her and responded, "I'm looking for a Dragon Heartstone. I got it from winning a bet against Salazar." He grinned to the last statement. "Are the children asleep?"

"Most are. Amber and Emily are still up practicing their new trick to show to Ash. Sometimes he seems like a kid."

Benicio laughed knowing full well who Skylar was referring to. "Well, Sky, if there's one thing you should know about Ash, it's that he'll never grow up. He's in his most mature state right now. And you might not believe this when I say it, but Ash is probably even more mature than Father and I."

Skylar just raised an eyebrow while looking at Benicio curiously. It was hard to believe that someone who can easily mix in with five year olds be more mature than the man who was once Severus Snape.

It was then that Benicio realized where his stone had gone. "I'm going to kill him!" he grunted as he apparated away.

Skylar stood alone and confused. "It seems that Ben finally figured out Ash had stolen his Dragon Heartstone," a new voice explained. Skylar turned to see Franklin closing a door behind him. "I was finally able to get the troublemaking twins to sleep. How do you deal with those two?"

Skylar just smiled in response.

"Thanks for everything," Hermione said to the stranger. The man handed her all her bags and smiled. "Why are you helping me anyways?"

The man looked back at Hermione with his green and hazel eyes. His smile went away and his serious face returned. "You remind me of an old friend of mine. Seeing you in trouble was nearly unbearable so I had to help."

For a moment, Hermione found it hard to breathe. She was blushing again. Hermione raised her bags quickly to cover her scarlet cheeks. Then she remembered a question she never had a chance to ask. "By the way, my name is Hermione Granger. What's your name?"

The man's smile returned as he looked up at the moon. "You will hear it soon enough. I would suggest you take a few steps back. It seems my brother has finally realized what I did." Hermione took a few steps back and into Hog's Head as she watched the stranger draw a blade from his back. "Oh, you can keep the jacket for now. I have a feeling we'll see each other soon!"

Then, before she could speak, Hermione heard someone scream, "ASHER PRINCE YOU BLOODY PRAT! WHERE'S MY DRAGON HEARTSTONE?!" Then a man fell from the sky with a black sword drawn. For a split second, Hermione thought she saw a silvered hair man with gray wings. She rubbed her eyes and the only man she saw besides the stranger was a stocky man with long black hair.

Benicio slammed his blade down on Asher, but Asher blocked with his own dagger. "Where's my Dragon Heartstone!" he asked again.

Asher let his knees buckle so he could get underneath Benicio. With one swift movement, he grabbed his brother's arm and threw him at another building. "I left it in good hands!" Asher replied as he saw it was not enough to throw the heavier man against the wall. He turned back and noticed that Hermione was still there. So he drew his second dagger from his back and charged.

"Left it in good hands? Whose?" Benicio asked as he parried Asher's attack.

"Ollivanders!" But before Benicio could throw another attack, a deck of cards shot out and Asher disappeared.

"That bloody prat!" he cursed as he apparated back to the Three Broomsticks.

When Benicio returned to the inn, he found Asher sitting comfortably at the dining table stuffing mouthfuls of food down his throat. He looked to Asher's left and saw his father sitting with a newspaper opened up. Giving up, Benicio sheathed his sword and sat down facing Asher.

"So," Franklin said as he set down his paper. "What did you find out?"

Asher began to explain the world with a basic comparison to their own. "Well, for starters, Voldemort's dead as are Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore. That is the official story at least. No bodies were ever found. Most Death Eaters were either captured or killed, with a few exceptions similar to our world. Igor's still alive and well at Drumstrang. Lucius is still at the Ministry. Most other things are the same as our world. However, here comes the changes. Tom never had a chance to go after James Potter and Lily Evans, so they both are alive as is Harry Potter."

This news came as a shock to Franklin and Benicio. They were glad Skylar was asleep as they were having this discussion. When the two recovered from their shock, Asher continued, "It seems that after Severus heard the prophecy, he had not been kicked out but led Albus to Tom. The two wizards dueled it out. Officially, all three died that day. There are many speculations as what happened as well as who side Severus was on when he died. As for the prophecy, nobody knows what it said. Nobody alive still remembers it. As for the one who made the prophecy, well, you both know how Trelawney is."

Franklin and Benicio rolled their eyes at the last statement. "It is only a speculation on my part that Trelawney made a prophecy. Remember, no one alive remembers what happened between Albus, Severus and Tom a few hours prior to the duel or what happened during the duel."

Benicio sat back in his chair making an effort to take in the new information as fast as possible. "So that's why that crummy old fart's the headmaster." Franklin laughed agreeing to his son's statement about Rufus.

"What of James and Lily? How are they faring?" Franklin asked with great interest.

Asher gave a smug look and continued, "Well, lucky for you, father, it seems that James and Lily divorced a year after Harry was born. James took custody of Harry and began his career at the Ministry. Lily returned to Hogwarts and replaced Slughorn as the potion master."

Franklin felt his heart leap, but he did not let his excitement show. Then again, both his sons knew how he felt about Lily Evans. "So that's why I was not able to get the position of potion master," he stated. "Well, I suppose we should get as much rest as we can. We have a busy day ahead of us." Asher cocked one eye at his father. "We're leaving for Hogwarts."


	6. Chapter 6

Skylar did not know if she felt glad or afraid to be back at Hogwarts. It seemed like centuries had past since she walked in the wide and beautiful halls of the school. Her children followed closely; except for Amber and Emily who she had to constantly call over. Memories of her past returned with each step she took. Rufus was kind enough to allow Asher, Benicio, her children and her to stay at Hogwarts. It once was her second home, now it had become her permanent home.

However, she could not help but have the feeling Rufus only agreed to this arrangement because he had another motive. Hermione walked cautiously through the halls with her children. Franklin was off greeting the students as they arrived from Hogwarts Express with Benicio. Asher was wherever he was. No one really knew except for Franklin who did not care too much. But it worried Skylar that she was walking through the empty halls of Hogwarts with her children alone.

It was safe inside the walls of Hogwarts, but any skilled Legilimens could easily go through her thoughts. Franklin had taught her Occlumency, but she had yet to master that skill. He had only brought back memories she had that were harmless to remember. Skylar was grateful that he trained her like that. However, most people were not that kind. They would just dig through her mind with little regard towards how she felt.

When Skylar was several feet from the doors to her chambers, she felt someone enter her mind. She immediately tried to break contact, but the perpetrator still lingered inside her. Skylar put up her shields and blocks to keep the perpetrator out, but the person just slipped through without breaking a sweat.

Suddenly, the connection was forcefully broken. When Skylar looked up, she saw Asher standing before her with a smile. "Are you all right?" She looked around and saw worried looks on her children's faces.

"Don't worry, mommy's fine now," she said as she knelt down. Skylar gave a confident smile to her children as she pulled them close.

Asher turned around and said, "Take these amulets. It'll allow me to shield you and the children as long as you have them on." Eight golden amulets dangled from his hand. They all had different shapes, but they all held a small green crystal in the center.

Skylar took the amulets from Asher and looked at the younger man. In that moment, Skylar saw the mature side of Asher before her children pulled her away.

Asher had purposely avoided eye contact with Skylar. He could not let her see the anger and hatred that burned in his mismatched eyes. This was a side of him that only the Founders, his father and brother knew about. In this state, Asher had complete control over wandless magic, but it put great strain upon his body.

It was risky to use so the Founders created two gauntlets that relieved the stress completely. However, the gauntlets needed to be charged and if he depletes the gauntlets, Asher would lose all his strength. The remedy is sleep; however, Asher doubted he could sleep in the middle of battle.

Asher was staring straight at the person who had tried to enter Skylar's mind. Asher had a good feeling that the person knew he was looking directly at him. So he walked around the corner and disappeared into the darkness.

Rufus had barely overcome the fear he felt when looking into Asher's eyes. He had attempted to search Skylar's mind for some background on Franklin, but apparently the man had left his daughter-in-law with a near invisible guardian. He had not detected Asher when he scryed the halls. Also, how Asher knew exactly where he hid was a complete mystery to Rufus. No one has ever notice his prying eyes upon them, not even his staff. But this man who had not been at Hogwarts for more than a few hours was able to find him with just one look.

As Rufus made his way back to his office, a sudden wave of fear froze him. The same feeling he felt while staring into Asher's eyes returned. He flicked his eyes left and right searching for where the young man stood, but no one was there. Only darkness.

"It's not nice to peer into other people's minds," a cold voice spoke out. It sounded like an old man. Rufus spun to his left and saw a shadow disappear.

"Especially a woman's mind," a female voice spoke. He spun around again, but a shadow disappeared from beneath his feet.

"When she's been wounded," another mans voice sneered. Rufus looked desperately for the owner of the voice, but found a shadow towering over his own.

"And in the process of healing," another woman's voice concluded. This time, he saw a shadow walking away. He followed the shadow until he saw four figures standing at his door. Suddenly, they were gone.

The fear came again and this burst brought an image of a sword impaling his stomach. Rufus cringed in pain as if he was dying, but when he came to, there was no sword there. "Do that again, and that will be much more than an illusion," a voice promised.

Rufus wasted no time as he ran through his office door and into the safe confines of his office. There was no way a squib could perform such high level illusions. It made him wonder if the perpetrator was a squib, or if Asher was a squib at all.

Asher smiled with great satisfaction as he pushed off the wall. He had not left the corner outside of Skylar's chambers. Instead, he used a magic skill he attained when he lost half his soul: the power to communicate with souls in the afterlife. Most souls required Asher's magic to bring them into the living world, but the four souls he asked for help from hardly needed to borrow his magic.

_This would keep the old lion busy for a while,_ Asher smirked as he exited the halls. He found his father standing next to a woman with fiery hair and a pair of deep green eyes like the one in his left socket. Asher nearly let out his laughter as he saw the woman turn away to hide her red cheeks. "I never knew the old man had a way with women!" Asher said as he joined Benicio in greeting the first years.

Benicio laughed as he replied, "Seems like the old man still has some tricks up his sleeves! Then again he owned a night bar which had a fine selection of female bartenders." Benicio laughed again as he saw his brother pout. "Oh, that's right! You NEVER had a chance to enter!"

Asher was not allowed into the bar because he was underage at the time. He would turn eighteen on September sixteenth, his adjusted birthday. They believed it was best to hide his true birthday of July thirty-first and used September sixteenth since it was the day Harry Potter died and Asher Prince was born. "I don't suppose you still have any pictures, do you?"

"Nope," Benicio replied with an evil grin. "Lost those three months ago!"

"Bastard!" Asher cursed at his brother. Then he walked in front of his brother and whispered, "The old fart tried to enter Sky's mind just now." Benicio tried his best to keep in his shock, but Asher could see through his struggles. "I was able to break the connection before any damage was done. I think it would be best if you took leave and go comfort Sky."

Franklin watched as his older adopted son made his way back to the school. He had an idea of what happened, but it always helps to make sure. "Allow me to introduce my younger and, sadly, my more mischievous son, Asher Prince," he said to the woman beside him. Asher walked over and held out his right hand which the woman took. Franklin eyed his younger son carefully.

Who knows what prank Asher had up his sleeve at this moment, but Asher did not have the guts to pull one before his father. The last time he did that, he ended up half dead in the infirmary. Helga Hufflepuff was not too pleased when she heard what Asher had did to end up like that. "Pleased to be of your acquaintance, Miss..."

"Evans. Lily Evans. Please to meet you." Of course Asher knew her name. This was the name of his biological mother; the one who sacrificed her life so Harry Potter could live. And there was not a woman in this world that could make his adoptive father's heart beat so fast. He smiled at Lily before turning back to his father.

"Sky suddenly felt sick. Ben's checking up on her."

"Sky?" Lily asked, somewhat confused.

"Sky is what we called my daughter-in-law, Skylar Black."

"Black?"

Asher gave a grin and answered, "Yes. She's married to my older brother Benicio Black. The two of us are adopted by the way."

Franklin was glaring at Asher. The way his son had said the first sentence made an implication of Benicio's relation to the Black family. And Franklin was not all to keen to meet Sirius Black just yet.

"Adopted?" Lily asked curiously before looking back to Franklin. "I found it a bit curious that neither of your sons looked like you, Frank. I had no idea they were adopted."

"Fortunately, they are. I would hate to know that my blood heirs are these two trouble making idiots."

"Aw, come' on, father, you don't really mean that," Asher said feigning hurt feelings.

"Yes I do," Franklin said sharply before turning back to Lily, "Don't worry, this is how our usual father son relationship goes. And don't ever trust every word that comes out of his smiling face."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lily replied as she took a glance at Asher. He had a mischievous grin across his face which proved Franklin's point. "By the way, I heard you're the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. How were you able to secure that position? The Headmaster has always made sure Alaster Moody had to come back each year to teach."

Franklin just smiled before walking over to the train to greet the students. Lily stared off in his direction wondering about the familiar feeling she felt when Franklin was around. "You'll get a headache trying to decipher the mystery that is Franklin Prince." She turned to see Asher looking in the same direction. "What is it that you see in him anyways?"

Lily smiled and replied, "He reminds me of an old friend I lost a long time ago."

Asher shifted his eyes to see the woman smile. _That old friend must be none other than Severus Snape._ Asher said to himself. _Seems like the old man knew how to court women for a long time. That bastard._


	7. Chapter 7

Asher watched as the students walked up the steps to the sorting hat one by one. It annoyed him greatly that most of the first years were afraid of the talking hat. Then he remembered his own reluctance to dawn the hat. But this was not the time to wait for bratty little first years. His stomach was roaring for food. After the little stunt he pulled today with Lily Evans, Franklin had made him brew four veils of Polyjuice potion without wasting one ounce of ingredients. Because he was brewing, Asher had to skip lunch. Now his stomach was growling like an angry lion and he was obviously drooling onto the table.

Asher took a glance at the Headmaster, who still seemed a bit shaken from the incident this afternoon. However that was the effect Asher desired. Then he saw ten boys run into the ceremony late. They were the same troublesome bunch that had burned Hermione's first advance potions book. Asher turned his head to get a better look when he recognized they held the copy of "Advance Potion Making" he had given to Hermione as a gift.

Asher stood up suddenly and his hunger was gone. He marched over to the ten boys before they could open the book and snatched it out of their hands. They let out a feint yelp before his glare froze them in fear. "Go before I think of a nasty prank to pull on you." The boys ran as fast as they could away from Asher as he made his way out. Usually the boys did not run so fast, but he did not have time to scry their minds for answers. Asher had to find Hermione before she thinks of doing something stupid. All the years of loneliness and mistreatment has twisted her mind. Now Asher is the only one who can help her since no one can peer into her mind without hurting her.

As he marched down the hall, Asher felt an eerie feeling. It felt like something evil was in the hall of Hogwarts. The feeling only made Asher move faster through the halls in search of Hermione. When he finished searching the floor, Asher turned back to head towards the stairs to the dormitory when he walked past an oddly familiar corridor. "It couldn't be," he muttered in disbelief. He stared down the passageway and saw a double door room.

Without a doubt, this was the girls bathroom. The same girls bathroom Asher and Ron had gone into to save Hermione from the Troll. The same bathroom that the three first became friends in. But that had been in their first year. Hermione was now in her fifth and had been alone all this time. "There is no possible way that a troll would appear now. **Quirrell** and Voldy aren't here." He cursed himself as a giant green giant walked into the other end of the corridor. "You got to be kidding me!" he cried to himself as quietly as he could.

Asher quickly hid his presence and drew a dagger in his right hand and a veil of acid in his left. The dagger was longer than most, as well as wider and heavier. It was also unbalanced having a heavier blade. Some people might mistaken it as a short sword, but the weapon he held is a dagger. The blade was straight and dual edged and Asher held it in reverse so the blade faced downwards.

He crept silently along the shadows of corridor and when he reached the Troll, he slashed out with his dagger slitting the Troll's giant throat. Then he plunged the veil of acid up the jugular and into the back of the Trolls head before retracting his hand and smashing the Trolls head into the wall. It broke the veil and acid poured into the brain killing it permanently. Asher hated facing Trolls. They had a tendency of not staying dead after you chopped of its head. Only fire and acid harmed it permanently; something he had learned that the hard way.

Asher looked down at the dead Troll with a smug look on his face. Suddenly, he heard a roar that reminded him of his days with the Founders. He turned and saw a second Troll charging down the hall. Gordic loved to do this to Asher. So did Salazar. Asher quickly sent a mental image to his father using Legilimens and drew his second dagger that finished the set. Before he could turn to face the second Troll, a giant club smashed into his left side.

Asher blocked the best he could, but he could only do so much in his surprised state. He flew through the double doors of the girls bathroom and braced for impact against magically reinforced concrete walls. That thought made him shudder. The Founders did that to him a lot as well.

It was nearly time for the opening ceremony and feast at Hogwarts, but Hermione sat in the girls bathroom filled with tears. Again the dual quintets played another prank on her. They had stolen the advance potions book Asher Prince had given to her as a gift. She had a chance to look through some of the spells, and if either of the quintets got their hands on them, they could increase the devastation of their pranks three-fold, even four-fold. And the target of the tryout pranks would be none other than Hermione Granger, the Ravenclaw bookworm.

She tried to dry her tears various times, but it just kept on rolling. Hermione had lost the only gift she ever received since her parents kicked her out ten years ago. Her crying was interrupted when she heard a loud roar. Hermione peaked her head out of the stall to see what was going on when the doors shattered and someone flew through and crashed into the wall.

As the person fell, Hermione recognized the face. "Asher?" she asked as the man hit the ground. Blood gushed out of his various cuts and scratches he received when crashing through the wooden doors. "Oh my--"

"Stand back, Hermione!" Asher shouted forcefully. The Troll was coming and it only needed to focus on one target. "Don't move an inch from that stall!" Asher spit out some blood from his mouth as the giant green hands of the Troll ripped away the remains of the doors. His left arm was throbbing in pain and was starting to become swollen.

The Troll charged once more and let out a thunderous war-cry that froze Hermione in fear. Asher was unaffected since he had battled Trolls before. He tossed one of his blades at the Trolls neck, but it dodged. _Damn_, he cursed. His vision was becoming worse than he thought. A wooden club slammed down in his direction, but Asher sliced his other dagger through the air cutting off the club an inch above the Troll's thumb. He had meant to take off half the hand, but destroying the club was good enough in his state. Unfortunately, Asher had not seen the other arm. A giant green hand clasped itself around Asher's body and began to crush him.

Asher let out a painful scream as he raised his blade and slashed once more. This time he was able to take off the Troll's left hand. He smiled in great satisfaction when he heard the giant Troll scream in pain. He dropped his dagger onto the ground, summoned his gauntlet and punched the Troll in the jaw. Then, a sudden burst of flame exploded burning away part of the Troll's face. It howled in pain once more, but not before it slapped Asher to the ground.

Asher bounced off the floor several times while coughing out blood. His injuries were now too great for him to use his gauntlets at their full potential. He heard Hermione's scream as she ran over to him. Asher tried to tell Hermione to stay back, but was far too weak to scream at her. He could see the tears pouring from her eyes. Asher came to dry her tears, not to make things worse. Then again, Asher had a knack for doing just that.

The Troll turned it's attention towards Asher once more. It roared as it threw another punch. Asher conjured a steel cable and quickly threw one end towards the bottom tip of his dagger. When he heard a click, he stood up with all his might and pulled the other end of the cable. It blocked the Troll's first fist, but Asher could see the Troll charging his second fist that had regrown due to the troll's regeneration. "I'm sorry, Hermione," Asher apologized as he turned back and gave her a smile. A book dropped out of the air and landed onto her lap. "I forgot to return that to you."

Hermione watched in horror as the second fist flew towards Asher. Suddenly, the fist stopped and blood splashed against the wall. Another man stood next to the corpse of the troll. He stabbed a giant black sword into the ground and looked towards Asher. He had deep black eyes and long jet black hair that he combed back. Then she remembered where she had saw this man. This was the person Asher had fought on the night they met.

"It seems like I can finally rest," Asher laughed as he collapsed to the ground. Hermione quickly ran forward and pulled Asher close to cushion his fall. Hermione watched as her tears rained down on Asher's smiling face.

"If professor walked in here, Ash, they would have--" Benicio's jaw dropped when he saw a girl with brown wavy hair holding his brother close. He could recognize that face anywhere. It was Hermione Jane Granger.

"Is everything alright?" Franklin asked as he walked through the door. "I doubt killing a Troll would cause you to stand frozen with your jaw--" The way his father ended the sentence was all the proof Benicio needed to know his father was standing in the same position he was and staring blankly with his jaw wide open.

"Are you alright?" Lily cried as she ran over to the wounded Asher and the tearing Hermione.

"Should we tell Sky?" Benicio whispered to his father as he regained his composure.

"No," Franklin replied as he walked over to Asher and Hermione.

Benicio smiled. He knew his father wanted to see the surprised look on Skylar's face when she finds out. So did he.


	8. Chapter 8

When Franklin returned to Great Hall, he found it in chaos. Seems like the word of two trolls in Hogwarts spread around faster than he could blink his eyes. Well, Hogwarts was not known to be a school where secrets could be kept hidden for long. Usually the best kept ones were the first to come out. But there were still some secrets left in Hogwarts.

Franklin looked over to the headmaster who flustered to calm the students, but had neither the skill nor patience. There were a few shouts that Franklin could hear over the student's panic, but it did not have the same feeling when Albus Dumbledore spoke the same words. It made him wish that Dumbledore was still here. It would only take him one moment to calm all the students.

However, Franklin's time with the Founders did teach him a few tricks. He placed the tip of his wand to his throat and shouted, "Silence!" The noise suddenly died down and everyone turned to look at him with a calm expression. Then he walked up towards the headmaster with a smug smile across his face. "The problem with the trolls is taken care of," Franklin reported bluntly to the headmaster. Murmurs of students echoed through the Great Hall, but with one glare from Franklin, the hall was silent once more. He smiled again with great satisfaction.

Franklin could tell Rufus shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. Not many had the ability to silence all the students with just one word or one glance. The previous headmaster was one of the few who had the ability, but now, before Rufus, stood a man far younger than he or the previous headmaster who did what he could not. He studied the man carefully, wondering if it was a mistake to bring him into Hogwarts.

Franklin just looked back at Rufus with a plain face. He knew the old headmaster was studying him wondering if he would pose a threat to the headmaster's seat. Franklin did not let it show, but there would be nothing more satisfying than kicking out the old power-hungry lion out of Hogwarts. He knew that Rufus was only at Hogwarts because he was not able to secure the seat of Minister of Magic.

"Do you know how the troll got into Hogwarts?" Rufus questioned Franklin.

"Well..." Franklin began, not sure if he should spin a tale or tell the truth.

But before he could decided, a familiar face appeared in the portrait behind Rufus and spoke out, "There were two trolls that entered Hogwarts. Gordic and I each summoned one." Franklin resisted the urge to slap his hand to his face while everyone's eyes turned to the portrait and found Salazar Slytherin speaking. Franklin had expected Gordic Gryffindor to show up if any of the Founders came at all.

Rufus eyed the Founder and asked, "Why would you summon a troll into Hogwarts?"

"We thought the squib Asher was trying to sneak into the girls bathroom." Salazar always had a way of making things sound worse than it really was. Murmurs and gasps rang through the Great Hall. "So, we made it a competition to see whose Troll can chase the squib away."

"And what of the Trolls? Are they gone?"

"Dead would be a more precise way of saying it. The squib managed to kill one before the second one bashed him in. Nearly died. But he's in good hands now." Franklin looked over to the students and saw a group of ten students who seemed to be unaffected by Salazar's words. It seemed Salazar also noticed the ten boys. For a moment, Franklin wondered if the Founder would punish the boys, but Salazar just disappeared from the portrait.

When the yellow eyes of Rufus turned away, Franklin took a good look at each of the teachers. From the left, he saw Sirius Black, a man he still resented for the incident of the Shrieking Shack in their days at Hogwarts, but not so much anymore. Just a bitterness remained. He taught a Dueling class which replaced divination. Next was Lily Evans, the current potion master. It is said that she took the position after Horace Slughorn left the school. After his seat next to Lily sat Pomona Sprout, the Herbology teacher. Next was Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank the professor for Care of Magical Creatures. It seems Hagrid was never exonerated for the death of Myrtle. Franklin would have to visit the half-giant one of these days.

After Wilhelmina were the headmaster Rufus, Filius Flitwick, the professor teaching charms, Sinistra, the Astronomy professor, Septima Vector, the Arithmancy professor, and Rolanda Hooch, the flying instructor. The professor for the History of Magic was still Binns, the elderly ghost. It seemed some things hasn't changed. At the right end of the table sat Dolores Umbridge. It seemed like she taught Transfiguration since Minerva McGonagall was not here. He did not see the professor for Ancient Runes and assumed one of the professors sitting at the table was substituting.

For a moment, Franklin wondered where the old witch and his werewolf friend were. He doubted Minerva would resign when she was next in line for Headmaster and it hardly seemed likely that she would give that seat away to the old lion or leave Hogwarts unless forced to. As for Remus Lupin, his lack of appearance made Franklin worry. With Umbridge present, who knows what Remus would have to face. During his interview with the old lion, Franklin had the feeling Remus was here at Hogwarts, but he had not seen the werewolf the two days he had been here.

Instead of worrying too much, Franklin walked over to his seat next to Lily and sat down. The scowl from Sirius nearly made him laugh. It seemed like old Padfoot did not like him around Lily too much. In his mind, Franklin began to devise a plan to remove Rufus from his seat of headmaster. Hogwarts did not need a man like Rufus as headmaster. Dumbledore was the best choice, but the old wizard has been dead for fifteen years. Minerva was the next choice which meant Franklin would need to track her down.

"You're not going to visit your son, Frank?" Lily asked as she place down her goblet of pumpkin juice.

Franklin turned to look at Lily's emerald green eyes and her blazing red hair. It's been well over thirty years for Franklin since he had seen her alive. Eighteen years passed in his original world since her death before Voldemort was defeated, and then Franklin spent another eighteen years with the Founders. But even after all this time, Franklin could never forget Lily. "No, it was his fault for pulling that stunt. And like Salazar said, he's in good hands."

Lily eyed him for a moment, unsure how to respond. Franklin knew she would jump at the moment she heard Harry was injured. "Don't worry, Ash's been through worse," Franklin stated as he turned back around to face the students.

"You don't seem to care about your son too much," Sirius spoke out.

"Well, Ben and Ash have a knack for getting into trouble and injuring themselves. If I worried about them, I would not live very long. Plus, they're adults now. They can take care of themselves." Franklin retorted. For a moment, Franklin wondered if he should ask Sirius where Remus was, but quickly convinced himself not to.

"Ben and Ash sound very much like how you and James were when you were younger," Lily said with a smile. "Always making mischief and getting yourself injured."

"Oh really?" Franklin said feigning interest. He knew all about the Marauders and their excursions. And he would never forget the time Sirius lured him to the Shrieking Shack where Remus almost killed him in werewolf form.

"They called themselves the 'Marauders'. There were five of them..." Lily trailed off. Franklin turned over to Lily and saw a sad look across her face. Sirius looked a bit irritated, but stayed quiet.

"I'm--" Franklin began to apologize, but not before the headmaster stood from his seat.

"Well, before we start our meal, I would like to welcome some guests. As you know, five years has passed since the previous tournament. Now it is time for the 106th Triwizard Tournament!" Rufus announced. This came as a shock to Franklin for it was banned in the nineteenth century in his world. It was revived once afterwards, but since Voldemort's intervention, it was banned once more.

"As most of you know, since the 100th Tournament, and the dramatic increase of witches and wizards, the founders have changed the rules such that two champions from each school will represent the school." Franklin place a hand on his wand itching for a chance to summon one of the Founders to explain their reasoning for two champions.

"Madam Maxine and her students from Beauxbatons Academy and Headmaster Karkaroff and his students of Durmstrang Institute will be joining us in early October. And like all the years before, only fifth years and above may participate in this event," Rufus finished. When he sat down, the cheering began. Life sprung back into the Great Hall as food magically appeared onto the long tables and the students quickly dug into their meal.

After the meal, Franklin was able to corner the ten boys he had suspected of summoning the two Trolls earlier. On one side, he saw Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom. On the other side, he saw Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott, and Blaise Zabini. "You should be more careful when playing with unknown spells. Especially Dark spells," he began with a cold glare. "Luckily for all of you, my idiotic son was there to save Miss Granger from the two Trolls you unleashed on her secretly." The ten boys looked at Franklin trying to match his glare and hide their shock. "Oh yes. I know your secrets. I know just about everything that goes on in Hogwarts, so don't bother hiding it from me. Twenty points shall be taken from each of you which would start both of your houses at negative 100 points."

They began to protest, but Franklin turned around and made his way back to his quarters. Skylar and the children had spent most of the night at the medical wing, so he doubted she would hear his little chat with the pair of quintets or had heard the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament. Well, it was more like a Triwizard-school Tournament now. However, excitement did flow throughout his body. He wondered who the champions would be when he passed by a familiar case of medals.

Franklin peered in and saw the medal James had won for best seeker. Close to that award was the award for youngest seekers of the century, Harry and Draco. Seemed like their rivalry had not changed. But as he turned away, a familiar name caught his eye. Severus Snape. It was on the medal for best keeper.

"Snively was one slick bastard in the old days." Franklin turned around and found Sirius standing next to him looking at the medals. "He could sneak anything past anyone, but no one could pass through him. He was like a brick wall when we played Quidditch. Not a single house could score a point as long as he was keeper."

"Which house did he belong to?" Franklin asked curiously. In his world and time, Franklin never played Quidditch simply because the Marauders were there.

"Gryffindor." Franklin raised an eyebrow and hid his surprise well. "He was one of the five Marauders with James, Remus, Peter and me. However, it would be best if you never talk about him when you're with Lily. Out of all of us, she was the one who took his death the hardest. They were best friends and it was Snively who was able to get Lily and James together. When he died, James and Lily fell apart. Sometimes I wonder if it was Severus who kept the two together for so long."

"He must have been one good friend," Franklin said. He had always regretted the fact that he and James never became friends in public. Or Lily. At least this was one regret Severus Snape was free of in this world.

"Yes, he was a good friend. One so good he let go of Lily for James." For a moment, Franklin thought he saw a tear stream down Sirius's face, but it was too dark to make out. Then Sirius turned and walked away. "I do hope we can become friends, Franklin Prince!"

Franklin smiled as he turned the other way and walked towards his quarters in Gryffindor. "So do I, Sirius Black."


	9. Chapter 9

Asher woke up the next morning in the medical wing of Hogwarts. He winced at the painful memories of how he always ended up in this room during the time with the Founders. When he tried to sit up, he felt a sharp pain to his side and collapsed back into bed. The injury to his left side had been far worse than Asher had expected. It seemed like Madam Pomfrey was not here, and Asher took it as a good sign. He relaxed his body and felt the magic around him. Asher concentrated on the magic and let it flow into his body to heal his wounds. But before the healing began, the door burst open breaking his concentration and in came Amber and Emily.

"Uncle Ash!" they cried in unison as they climbed to the side of his bed. "Look at this new trick!"

"AMBER! EMILY!" a familiar voice cried out before the twins could perform their trick. "Uncle Ash needs to rest, so don't bother him." The twins lowered their heads in disappointment as Skylar and her other five children walked in.

James and Lily followed closely behind Skylar but poked their heads out to see Asher. The two were his children after all. They were the twin children of Ginny and him while he was still Harry Potter; but now both Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were gone and Skylar was left to take care of them. He wondered why Harry had not chosen to live again and give half his soul to become Asher Prince. Every time Asher asked, Harry would just ignore the question. Although they are the same person, Asher and Harry are different people at the same time.

But his train of thought was cut when he saw his father and brother walk in. "Seems like Pomfrey's away for the moment," Benicio noted as he looked around.

"And that's a good thing?" Skylar shot at Benicio, but no one answered.

"You should heal yourself while no one else is here, Ash," Franklin advised as he took a seat in the adjacent bed and pulled out a notebook.

"I was until the twins showed up," Asher grunted as he relaxed and concentrated once more.

"Danger at three o'clock," Benicio said breaking Asher's concentration once more. Everyone turned to see Hermione slowly approaching the room.

Hermione walked up shyly unsure how to proceed and stopped ten feet away from Asher and whispered between her teeth, "I'm sorry if I'm disturbing..." She lowered her head in slight embarrassment when everyone's eyes were staring at her.

But Asher leaped out of his bed and stood up straight next to her. With one hand, Asher flicked up his hair and said, "No worries! They were just wondering how I was doing and as you can see, I'm perfectly fine!"

"Really?" Hermione heard the woman scoff with mild disbelief. She looked up to see a tall, beautiful and slender woman with long and slightly wavy auburn hair. She had sharp but kind brown eyes that seemed to have lost some of it's color to Hermione. It gave Hermione the impression that the woman was not the same woman she was because of some even of her past. Like her own. But the woman's smile nearly covered up all the pain.

The woman was strong, much stronger than Hermione herself. She could barely survive her own problems and Hermione had no doubt the woman's troubles were far worse than her own. Hermione looked down again slightly discouraged before remembering why she came. "I'm sorry Asher. Because of me--"

An arm wrapped over her shoulders and a hand lifted her chin. Before Hermione, Asher was leaning over and his was only inches away from her. "As I said before, a sad face doesn't suit you, Hermione. You should smile more often. And don't apologize either. I'm your knight in shining armor and will fight for your honor and protect you from all harm. So smile, my fair Hermione." Hermione felt her cheeks burn, but she could not help but return Asher's smile.

Franklin slapped his hand to his face and shook his head wondering how Asher could make Hermione smile and blush with such lame lines. The Hermione Franklin knew, who sat across from him, would have just pushed away Asher and went about her day. Benicio turned around and held his mouth shut to prevent himself from laughing out loud. But it showed that he was laughing inside. As for Skylar, she let her jaw drop in complete shock and awe that Hermione would ever fall for such lame words.

Asher leaned a bit closer to Hermione before a sharp punch hit his left side and he cringed in pain. Then a hand grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away from Hermione. "Stay away from her lips you pedophile!" Skylar said.

Franklin walked over and turned Hermione around to lead her out of the Medial Wing as Benicio did the same with the children. "Don't worry, he's in good hands..." Franklin said to Hermione with an unconvincing smile. Benicio just rolled his eyes when Hermione looked over.

Asher lay on the bed covered in more bruises than before. He had never been on the receiving end of Skylar's anger, even when they were Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, but after today, Asher would make sure he was never at the receiving end once more. He looked up at Skylar and saw her staring out the doorway of the Medical Wing at her alternate younger self. "Hermione thinks of you as a strong, resilient and courageous woman. Also quite beautiful. I think she might have finally found someone she looks up to."

"You hit on younger girls and peer into their minds, pedophile?" Skylar glared at Asher.

"Hey! Legally speaking, I'm not a pedophile because I'm still a minor!"

"If you went by your original birthday, you would be twenty now! Plus you used an age reversing potion that changed your age back after you spent time with the Founders!"

"Actually, we never used any potions to change our ages. We just aged differently because of entering another dimension. Ben aged every two years and returned to our world twelve years later after our arrival to the time of the Founders. For Ben, three years had passed since we left our time and aged six years. Frank stayed for eighteen years never aging a day and when he returned, it was shortly after Ben's return to our time. I stayed with the founders for fifteen years and was lost in time for four years. When I finally arrived back in our time, four years had passed and I was nineteen years old. My age remained the same according to the years I had spent in that world. But here, I'm still fifteen. It seemed my age reflected the amount of years I spent with the founders excluding the time I was lost." Asher replied with a gleeful smile. He could tell Skylar was angry, but interested in time travel and dimension jumping.

"Interesting," Skylar noted as she had jotted down all Asher had said about their travels in time. "I will have to research this when I have some time away from the kids. But back to our original topic, you are still a pedophile since the total years you've been alive is well over the age limit, even though you are only fifteen in this realm."

"Damn..." Asher cursed. He had no retort for that statement. Skylar was just that good. Just as good as the old hag Renowa Ravenclaw. Asher never won a debate with that woman. Neither did Franklin who could duel Salazar on even grounds. "But--" he started to protest, but Skylar was right. Logically. Asher had lived for thirty eight years, but because of his time jumps, his aging worked differently. He doubted Merlin could figure out why it happened.

"So you are still a pedophile."

Asher moaned in defeat as he lay back down on his bed. "She's broken though. Not as broken as you once were, but for a far longer time than you. She's been tormented by her past, beaten by her caretaker, teased by everyone here in Hogwarts and betrayed by the only people she loved. Say, Hermione, will you let me heal her?"

Skylar raised an eyebrow and glanced at Asher who had an arm covering his eyes. They had all agreed not to use her birth name in this world, but Asher had just called her 'Hermione'. "Why do you need my permission, Ash?"

"Because she is you, Hermione. She is the 'you' of this world and I have a feeling that you want her to be with Ron. As much as I respect your wish, I want to heal her."

Skylar stared at Asher. He was right about her wish. She wanted Ron and her other self to be together, but thing were different in this world. So Skylar turned her eyes to face forward and said, "If she comes crying one day because of something you did, don't expect me to forgive you."

"What if she's crying because I'm injured?"

"We'll make that the only exception. Anything else, don't expect yourself to be living a few minutes after I hear about it." Skylar stood up from the bed and walked out of the Medical Wing.

"Thank you, Sky," Asher said to his sister-in-law just before she reached the doorway.

"Just heal up so you can play the knight in shining armor," Skylar shouted back as she walked through the doorway to join her children.

Asher smiled as he lay in his bed. "Thank you," he said again.


	10. Chapter 10

When Franklin escorted Hermione out of the Hospital Wing, he shut the door behind him and placed a spell so no one would hear Asher screaming in pain as Skylar punished him for what he was about to do. When he turned around, he found Lily Evans walking in his direction. "Is something wrong?" she asked wondering why Franklin, Hermione, Benicio and the children were waiting outside.

Franklin looked from Lily to Hermione who were interested in his response. "Sky just wanted to talk to Ash privately." He answered simply, but he doubted that answer was enough for Hermione. She did see Skylar throw a sharp punch to Asher's side. So Franklin turned to Hermione and said, "Don't worry, Miss Granger, Ash will be fine. He's still alive after fighting two Trolls. Sky will be out shortly."

"How is it that your sons can fight Trolls without magic?" Lily asked fairly interested in the events of the previous night.

Franklin turned to face Lily and could not help but smile when he looked into her emerald green eyes. "Care for a walk?" Franklin offered as he walked up to the Potion Master. When she agree, he began to explain, "As you know, a Dark wizard commanded legions of dark wizards and witches, Inferti, Trolls, Giants, Dementors and many other dark creatures."

"The war against Voldemort?" It surprised Franklin that Lily used the name so casually. He remembered when every wizard and witch would cringe upon hearing the name and insisted to use 'He-who-must-not-be-named' or 'you-know-who'.

"Yes, the war against Voldemort. Ben lost his parents in the war when he was six while Asher's parents were killed shortly after his birth. I took them in as my children since their parents were good friends of mine. The war ended shortly afterwards, but there was always the possibility of the rise of a new Dark Lord. So I trained both in the arts of hand to hand combat, weapon mastery and magic."

"Magic? I thought Asher is a squib."

"He is, but I found some artifacts that gave him some magical abilities."

"But training them does not make up for the lack of experience."

"After they received the basic training for weapon mastery, I put both children into the Forbidden Forrest. Ben went first, then Ash joined later."

Lily let out a gasp before asking, "How did they survive? Did you help them?"

"I watched over them, but did not help them. Hands on experience is the best way to achieve mastery in hand, weapon and magic combat as well as survival. They ran when they could, and fought when victory was within their grasp."

"Isn't that too cruel?"

"Not really. They had help from the centaurs. And their weapons are forged with magic, so if there was ever a time where their life was being threatened, it would instantly apparate them into the closest ally camp which usually was the centaur camp. It was their idea of training the children, not mine. But both Ben and Ash turned out well."

"Were you ever worried?" Lily asked, but Franklin just turned to face her and smiled in response. "I take that as a yes?"

"Although the three of us are not bound by blood, we are still a family. You might not be able to tell by how we treat one another or how we talk to one another or admit it to one another, but we all care for one another."

"I wonder how Harry's doing..." Lily murmured, but Franklin heard.

"Your son?"

"Yes. My only child. But I've never spoken to him as a mother since James and I divorced fourteen years ago. I wonder if he knows I'm his mother."

"He probably does. He has your eyes after all." Lily turned to look at Franklin wondering how he knew. "Harry's the ringleader of Gryffindor's trouble making quintet right?"

Lily turned back around and lowered her head. "Unfortunately, he is. Not many people notice our matching eyes nor do most people know that he is the child of my marriage to James."

Franklin walked in front of Lily and place both his hands on her shoulder and said to her, "You want to talk to Harry, don't you?" Lily nodded, but still kept her head down. Franklin smiled as he pulled Lily close. "Go ahead and cry. No one's here and you'll feel better afterwards. Then I'll take you to Harry."

"But... but..." Lily protested through her sobs, but Franklin just brushed one hand through her hair to comfort her.

"It's not good to keep everything inside, Lily. A good friend of mine always said that to me, but she's gone now."

Benicio stood from the second floor window looking down at his father. "The old man's pretty good with women," he commented before turning back to the children. "Amber, Emily, it's not good to pick on James and Michael," he said as he knelt down to pat James and Michael on the head. "There, there, stop being angry at Amber and Emily. You'll never get better then the twins if you keep on moping around. And Amber, Emily, help them when they need help. You're the eldest and should be helping them, not discouraging them."

When the children finally were able to get along again, Benicio turned to see Hermione who sat alone in the corner. "You shouldn't be so worried about Asher," he said as he walked over to Hermione. She just lowered her head and remained quite. "You know, if you keep quite all the time, you'll never make friends."

"I don't need any friends," Hermione replied as she opened her potions book and began studying.

Benicio chuckled before replying, "You know, there was a time when I thought the same way you do." He took a seat next to Hermione, but she just moved over. "I thought that I could survive in this world alone, but the loneliness sometimes was too hard to bear. It was in my darkest hour that I met Sky. We didn't get along at first, because we came from different backgrounds. But the more time I spent with her, the more I came to realize that I needed her. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with her."

"Love?" Hermione scoffed. "Love is just an illusion. Some people chase after it all their lives while others claim they have it. But the truth of the matter is, love is never the within their grasp."

"That's true. Even though Sky and I are married, I doubt she loves me the way I love her. She doesn't even know how much I love her."

Hermione jerked her head up to look at Benicio. "Then how did you get her to marry you?"

Benicio just smiled. "You probably noticed that her eyes have dulled in color. That was because she lost her previous husband due to a plague that spread through the wizarding community. During the time after her husband died, she lived with her parents and took care of all seven of these children. She was a strong woman once, and she still is, but no longer as strong as she once was. Her parents were murdered before her eyes and it just deepened the scar in her heart."

"I don't need you to lecture me on how to live. I can get by just fine by myself. And why are you telling me all this?"

Benicio could tell Hermione was angry. Some people just never change. "Because in many ways, you are like Sky. And also I can tell you look up to her. Horrible events leave deep scars, but if you never stand up after you fallen, then the scars will never go away."

Hermione looked down at her book again. "But I'm not like her. I'm not as strong as her."

"Then lean on Asher," Benicio said with a smile. "Lean on him and he will give you the strength you need. Let him be your friend and let him help you stand. He may be an idiot and a prankster, but he cares for his family and friends. You can learn a lot from him."

Benicio nearly laughed when Hermione got up from her seat and stalked off stating, "I don't even know why I came here."

"But you do know why you came here," he said to her as he grabbed her arm stopping her from walking away. "Sky will be out soon and then you can talk to Ash alone if you want." Hermione turned back to face Benicio and shock off his hand. Then the doors to the Medical Wing opened and Skylar walked out with a smile across her face.

"He's all yours, Hermione," Skylar said to Hermione. Hermione looked into the woman's eyes and wondered if some life had returned. But before she could get a good glance, Skylar walked passed Hermione and gave her a slight nudge saying, "Go, Hermione. He's waiting for you."

"So, you agree to this?" Benicio asked Skylar as Hermione stepped through the doorway. "It's not like you to give in so easily."

"Yeah, well things are different in this world. I can't expect everything to be the same, can I?"

"You can always dream."

Skylar smiled to that response. "Yeah, I suppose I can."


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione entered the medical wing unsure of how to proceed. She slowly crept up to Asher's side and peered down at the young man. His wounds had healed which was uncommon. It usually took several weeks for all the cuts to close and bruises to fade. However Asher had not a single scratch on him. "Something wrong?" Asher asked, turning to face Hermione.

She just shook her head silently and took a seat beside Asher. It made her wonder why she was so interested in this man. Maybe it was because he was different from all the boys and men she had met. Asher treated her differently. He treated her like a friend. A friend... How she longed to have one.

"What I don't understand about you, Hermione, is why you choose to be alone." Asher asked. It struck Hermione that Asher always seemed to be asking questions related to her own thoughts.

"It's because I'm cursed by fate."

"Fate?" Asher said. It almost sounded like a scoff. "Why do you believe that it is your fate to be friendless?"

Hermione turned away and replied, "It seems like people always get hurt around me. Like you."

"But is it your fault that people get hurt?"

"Yes." Asher felt sad that Hermione was so convinced that fate was the cause of her problems. Once before, he had thought the same way too. But only later, when he had fulfilled his fate did he realize that there were other routes. Paths the adults in his world devoid him of. They just wanted a savior. A person whom they could unite under to fight Voldemort.

Harry Potter never had the power to destroy Voldemort within himself. The Dark Lord was destroyed by Harry's ability to channel the feelings of those around him. Anyone could have easily taken his place, but no one was brave enough so they raised a child completely oblivious to the truth of fate to fight. He was a fool then, but never again will he play the part of a fool. Nor would he let those around him follow that same path.

"Do you have a hand in their injury or are you there when people are hurt?"

"People are hurt they're when around me me, so wouldn't it be my fault?"

"No. People are hurt all the time. Unless you are directly involved, it is not your fault. It's just coincidence."

"Coincidences don't happen all the time."

Asher turned to face Hermione wondering why she was so thickheaded. Then he remembered facing Skylar's stubbornness in the months before he came to Hogwarts. Some people never change. "Let me tell you a story about fate. Once, in a world not so different from this one, lived a hero called The-boy-who-lived and his enemy He-who-must-not-be-named or simply you-know-who. You-know-who was a great wizard of the Dark Arts."

"Like Voldemort?"

"Yes, like Voldemort. Darkness fell over the world when You-know-who reigned over the land. People were dying everywhere and his legions were unstoppable. Until one day a prophecy was made. The prophecy stated that one day a child will be born into the world and You-know-who would mark the child as his equal and the child would have the power to destroy You-know-who." Asher smiled. It seems in this world Voldemort was never named you-know-who and the-boy-who-lived was never born. Harry Potter was alive and well, but the scar that marked him was not on his forehead. He wondered if Hermione would ever figure out Asher was talking about Voldemort. But for the moment, she did not need to know you-know-who and Voldemort are one and the same.

"So, You-know-who scoured the land in search of this child and one day found the child. He killed the parents with one swift motion, but when he reached the child, he used the killing curse. But instead of killing the child, You-know-who marked the child as the prophecy stated and the killing curse returned and destroyed You-know-who's physical form. Thus the-boy-who-lived was born into the world."

"How did the-boy-who-lived survive a killing curse? No one has survived it before."

"When his mother sacrifice her life for his, it created a magical shield that reflected the curse. However, neither you-know-who or the-boy-who-lived was killed that day. You-know-who returned when the-boy-who-lived entered his first year at a wizarding school. He was defeated again by the-boy-who-lived and retreated. This battle went on year after year until the-boy-who-lived reached 18 years of age when they dueled their final time. Along the way, friends of the-boy-who-lived died at the hands of you-know-who, and as the valiant hero, the-boy-who-lived blamed himself for their deaths. Now, let me ask you, was it his fault that people were hurt?"

"No... they went to fight you-know-who by his side right?"

"Yes, and died doing so."

"They fought with the-boy-who-lived because it was his fate to fight you-know-who. It was fate that brought the deaths of his friends."

"What if I said the prophecy pointed to two children who were equally likely to have been chosen by you-know-who?"

"What?"

"The prophecy only stated that a boy born in the seventh month to a couple who has thwarted you-know-who thrice would be marked. Two children were born under the same conditions. But you-know-who chose one of the two children."

"But it was still fate the-boy-who-lived was chosen."

"No, it isn't. Because if you-know-who had heard the whole prophecy, he would have known, or at least foresaw the consequences of attacking either child. Since the prophecy does state that you-know-who would mark the child and bestow the child with the power to defeat him."

"Then what was the point of the prophecy if it could be thwarted? Fate still had a part to play so these conditions would be met."

"That is where you are wrong. Fate has nothing to do with our lives. Fate is but an excuse we humans made to blame for all the mistakes in life. You-know-who chose the-boy-who-lived. The-boy-who-lived chose to continue the fight against you-know-who. But things could have easily worked out differently."

"How?" Hermione asked curiously. It had always been taught to her that a persons fate was fixed. Nothing they do could ever change it. Yet, a young man, not much older than herself, sat before her with the firm belief that fate can be changed.

"The-boy-who-lived grew up with the adults telling him 'this' is his destiny. 'this' is what he must do. He was never told that he could 'not' do 'this'. Words of a prophecy are only given power when people believe in it. If no one believed in the prophecy, the war between the-boy-who-lived and you-know-who would never had passed. It is easy to blame fate for our misfortunes. But if we only blame others, we will never fix the problems at hand. People get hurt around you is something you cannot control, this is true, but things can change if you choose to change it. You always have a choice, Hermione."

"How do you know I will always have a choice in things? It's not like you know what it's like being me."

Asher smiled at Hermione. She could not possibly know how similar she sounded like Harry Potter. Asher knew what it was like to have the shadow of fate cast over you. Bits and pieces of his life as Harry Potter still remained. Mostly it was memories of pain, suffering, despair, hatred, anger and loneliness. It was a life Asher wanted to leave behind; wanted to forget. The part of him that was Harry Potter had died, but his legacy still remained.

Asher sat up in his bed to face Hermione who would not meet his gaze. "I know more about fate and destiny than you know at this moment. If you let me, I can be your guide. We always have a choice between following destiny or creating our own path in life."

"How do you know we have a choice?"

"Because I am right here next to you."

Hermione wanted to push Asher away, but for the first time in her life, she wanted someone next to her. She looked into his mismatched eyes wondering why it was different with Asher. It seemed like he understood her, knew what she was going through and, most of all, was there for her. But other questions popped into here mind. Why was Asher so kind? Did he have other motives? Why her?

But the questions faded from her mind as she began to cry. This was the third time she let anyone see her tears. The third time she let Asher see. The third time she found herself in his arms. It was here where she found comfort. Here where nothing else seemed to matter. Why couldn't the rest of the world be as kind to her as Asher? Hermione never knew she fell asleep until the bell rang for lunch.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry stomped through the long corridors of Hogwarts annoyed and angry that the new Dark Arts teacher knew it was he and Draco that summoned the two Trolls. For payback, Harry snatched a pouch of coins from the professors office. He held a satisfied grin as he rejoined his friends. "Did you pull it off?" his red haired best friend asked while having his arms around two girls from Hufflepuff. Harry had stopped memorizing their names since Ron flirted with just about everyone on campus.

"Yup," he answered as he pulled out a brown pouch. "That old geezer won't ever know it's gone. Took it while I skipped Ancient Runes."

"That's awesome!" Dean and Seamus cried in unison as they crowded around Harry.

They pulled the string that closed the pouch to see what lay inside when a giant green arm reached out and slammed against the ground. Harry and his four friends tried to run, but they were all frozen in fear when a troll stood up before them. All the students flew into panic and ran as far as they could to avoid being crushed by the dark creature. Suddenly, a booming voice screamed, "Riddikulus!" and the troll changed into a dancing robot. Laughter roared replacing fear.

"You know, Mr. Potter, there is no possible way you can EVER pull a prank on me. I have two mischievous sons for that and I highly doubt you will ever obtain half of their pranking abilities." The five friends turned to face Professor Prince who strolled through the corridor casually. The wide grin across his face just annoyed Harry and his friends even more. "Twenty points for attempting to steal a teachers possession. Yes, attempting. You never stole it since you only took your own bag back. And another twenty points for skipping Ancient Runes. If you skip any more classes, I will take away your broom. And you will also be serving detention with me after Dark Arts. So, Gryffindor starts off this year with negative 140 points. Seems like you're behind your rival Slytherin!" the professor laughed as he walked away.

Anger pulsed through every inch of Harry's body as he drew his wand attempted to fire a jinx at the professor before he was tackled by all his friends. "Get a hold of yourself, mate!" Ron called out to Harry. "We'll get him back! Just cool down for now!"

"Yeah, Harry. We WILL get him back." This time it was Neville who spoke. It wasn't often that Neville would agree to pranking a professor, but it seems Professor Prince had angered him enough to make him break his own rule.

Yes, they will get Professor Prince back. He will never know what hit him.

Franklin could barely stop laughing. It seemed that there would always be conflict between Severus Snape and Harry Potter, even in a world where James and Severus were friends. At least he was able to find an adequate reason for giving Harry detention. It had bothered Franklin to give Harry detention without adequate reason. The purpose for the detention was to give Lily a chance to talk to Harry alone and away from Hogwarts.

And things could not have worked out any better. Franklin had convinced both Sirius and Rufus to place Benicio under Sirius for an apprenticeship in Dueling. He wanted to open a class to have his older son teach weaponry, but that would have to wait. The old lion seemed to like having control of authority at Hogwarts. The suggestion of opening a weaponry class with his son as the instructor would look like Franklin wanted to wrest control of Hogwarts from Rufus, which he did. But Franklin still needed to find a suitable Headmaster to replace the old lion.

That was a plan in progress. Now Franklin needed to concentrate on executing his current plan of getting Lily and Harry outside of the ears of Hogwarts. He walked out of his office, now able to control his laugher, and headed out to find Lily to schedule a meeting to meet at his office later.

Franklin would also have to speak to his younger adopted son about some arrangements he made. He had told no one except the people whom he talked to for the arrangement. This was one fun surprise that he did not want to spoil. It was not everyday that you can get back at Asher Prince, the crowned Prince of Mischief.

After lunch, Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus found their way to DADA. They were all itching to hit their new professor with any spell, curse or charm. Confidence filled their hearts as the walked into the classroom. They had hit Moody on various occasions and proudly flaunted their abilities at the Slytherins. Draco and his crew also threw spells at the old Auror, but they were Slytherins and cannot compare to Gryffindors.

As the five strolled into the classroom, they watched Professor Prince carefully as he was studying some notes on his desk. Without thinking, the five drew their wands and shot the first spell that came to mind. However, the professor simply flicked his own wand and the spells bounced harmlessly away. "Surprise is a good element to have in a duel, Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus, but you should make sure you have the element of surprise."

The class turned to face the five Gryffindor troublemakers and began to laugh. Draco and his troublemaking friends laughed the loudest and hardest. Harry and his friends found themselves dangling upside down and unable to do anything about it. They tried to wave their wands, but Professor Prince flicked his wand and knocked their wands away from their hands.

"A simple shield charm would have easily blocked all of those attacks," the professor began, finally finding a place to start the class. "The incantation is 'Protego' and you will find the wand movements in your books. Quickly learn the spell as I will be testing your strengths soon." Franklin turned towards Harry and his friends which still dangled upside down. "Are you ready to learn? Or do you want to spend more time dangling from your legs?"

Reluctantly, the five boys gave in and Franklin dropped them to the ground without warning. Their first thought was to reach for their wands when they noticed a glare from the new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. So they picked up their books, went to their seat and sat down. Franklin waved his wand and levitated the wands to their respective owners.

Franklin then made a trip about the classroom checking each student with their progress. As expected, most students were only able to conjure half a shield. However, one student had produced a complete shield. It seemed odd to Franklin since he was sure no one had taught the shield charm before. It was not in the curriculum which was also one of the reasons why most witches and wizards of his world had difficulty performing the spell.

However, his attention was soon turned to Draco Malfoy who showed off his weak shield. Harry and his friends has yet to finish reading how to perform the charm and Franklin decided he had humiliated the Gryffindor's enough for today. It did not help that Franklin was sorted into Gryffindor as a teacher. It seems Gordic or Salazar had something to do with this.

As Draco raised his shield again, Franklin raised his wand and said, "Stupefy!" and the spell broke through the shield stunning the silver haired Slytherin. He was exactly like Benicio when he was young. At least now Franklin did not have to cover for any of the Slytherins. "Ennevrate!" he said with another wave of his wand to revive the stunned boy. "Well done in producing a shield, but as you can see, unless it is at full power, it is fairly useless." Crabbe and Goyle stood up to face Franklin who turned around ignoring the two. "You may show off _if _you have the ability to back up your words. Now, Crabbe, Goyle, raise your shields."

The two stocky guards of the Slytherin prince looked at each other dumbfounded. Neither had a clue as how to perform the spell. They just wildly waved their wands and spoke the incantation, "Protego." Franklin waved his wand and sent the two flying backwards from where they stood.

"This class is Defense Against the Dark Arts. Without the ability to raise a proper shield, you will not survive long in the world," Franklin spoke out. He was not angry at the students for not knowing the shield charm, but making himself look angry would be enough to scare the students into learning it.

"Sir," Ron said as he raised his hand. Franklin turned and nodded to the tall redhead for him to ask his question. "Why would we need to learn spells to protect ourself? Voldemort has been defeated fifteen years ago and our world has been at peace ever since."

Murmurs of agreement went though the classroom. Franklin just waited for the students to settle down before responding, "Well, Ron, is the world always at peace?"

"Um... no?" Ron answered in question form.

"I wasn't asking a trick question, but yes, the world is not always at peace. If we don't prepare ourselves for an attack, we will always be on the losing side. Let's take the Romans for example. They ruled the majority of Europe for centuries. However, at the end of their rule, they had been partying so much and ignoring military strength that they collapsed without much of a fight. You never know when the next dark wizard will raise from the ashes of the previous, but it's never a bad idea to be prepared."

"But--" Harry began to protest, but Franklin raised a hand stopping him.

"That example may have been a bit too big. There may be a day where you find yourself being robbed of your possessions by a witch or wizard. Now, the first spell they first stun you. If you didn't know the shield charm, you would have to dodge it. It may be pretty hard to dodge if you have slow reflexes, but if you raised your shield, it will block the spell and give you enough time to respond."

For the remainder of the class, Franklin continued to tests the student's shields. He had picked on Draco and his crew for most of the class. Harry and his friends did not fare much better.


	13. Chapter 13

Draco stormed out of the classroom when the bell rang. Never had he left a classroom so fast. Never has he been humiliated like this before. Draco would have to talk to his father to get back at this new teacher. Behind him, the two bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle and behind them were Blaize and Theodore. Draco had not heard the chatter of his friends when he bumped into an older Slytherin.

"Well, Draco," the older boy said looking down at him. "It seems you have disgraced the Slytherin name in DADA today." Several other older Slytherins moved the older boy's side. Draco swallowed hard as he took a few steps back. Crabbe, Goyle, Blaize and Theodore stood perfectly still behind Draco facing the upperclassmen. "This is your mess, Draco. Don't run to father asking for his help." The older Slytherins shoved past Draco and his friends knocking them around.

"We should avoid your brother next time," Theodore noted as he picked up some of the books the older Slytherins knocked over.

"Yeah," Draco agreed. It had always been the same. Draco's older brother always bullied him around. Even before Draco was accepted into Hogwarts. His parents did not care either way for him. They cared for his brother, Falco Malfoy. Falco always received their help, blessing and approval while Draco was always the 'other son'.

Just as Draco stood up, he crashed into someone again. This time he saw a wavy bundle of messy brown hair combined with the loud crash and knew who it was. "Watch where you're walking, Mudblood!" Draco cursed as he shuffled to pick up his belongings once more.

"Like you did a good job yourself," Hermione returned with a glare.

"As you can see, the Halls of Hogwarts are for pure-bloods only. We have the authority around here. You don't even have an ounce of sorcerers blood in you. You're just an abomination. That's why your parents threw you out!" Draco retorted in full fury. He hated Hermione Granger. Not only because she was muggle-born, but because she was snotty and a downright know-it-all that out-shined everyone in class.

Benicio and Skylar arrived only to see Hermione stalk off in tears leaving her books behind. "I wasn't that mean to you, was I?" Benicio asked his acting wife.

"Actually, you were. I just never showed it. When I did, you got hurt," Skylar replied with a worried look. "Should we--"

"You talk to Hermione," Benicio said cutting Skylar short of her suggestion. "She looks up to you, so you might be able to give her some strength. Plus, you're the same person anyways." Skylar smacked the back of Benicio's head before turning to go after Hermione.

Benicio walked over to Draco and his friends as they laughed. He pulled Draco from his seat on the ground to his feet and said, "You know, you shouldn't be so hard on other students."

"Why? She's a Mudblood. I don't see why you would mind since you're a Slytherin." Draco responded with a shrug and continued to laugh.

"It seems the world has a great misconception of Salazar Slytherin," Benicio said to his other self of this world. It was amazing how much of a git he was as Draco Malfoy. Benicio vowed never to become that old self again. And if he could, he would change this Draco Malfoy into a better person. "Salazar Slytherin never hated Muggles. Nor did he hate bloodtraitors or muggleborns." Those words made every Slytherin fall silent and glare at him. "Salazar Slytherin's first wife was a muggle whom he loved dearly. However, his father-in-law saw their child as an abomination and killed it soon after it was born. In blind rage, Salazar killed his father-in-law sending his own wife into an incurable insanity."

Everyone was screaming at Benicio that he was lying about the ambitious Founder, but no one knew the truth in his words. He had met the old Founder days before he would have his final argument with the other Founders and leave Hogwarts. "Salazar fled his home and began his journey of alcoholism to quell the pain. It was Gordic Gryffindor, his best friend, and Rowena Ravenclaw that brought Salazar back to reality. Soon after, they and Helga Hufflepuff joined together to build Hogwarts."

"Then why did Salazar argue for teaching only pureblooded witches and wizards?" Draco sneered back in retort.

"The death of his first son haunted Salazar. It haunted him so much he wished it never to be repeated. He wished for the wellbeing of witches and wizards around the world, but the persecution brought down on magical children greatly affected the environment in which magical children could be raised. In fact, Salazar went as far as to research a way to change halfbloods and muggleborns into purebloods. It was later, after his death, that his goal was twisted by the ambitious and corrupted into the views we have now."

"I know that," Draco whispered angrily. Benicio did not need to look around to tell that other Slytherins did not share the same view. "But... But you wouldn't understand." Draco shook off Benicio and grabbed his bag from the floor. "You're a disgrace to the Slytherin name," he spat as he turned around and walked away.

"A Slytherin as Salazar wanted Slytherins to be," Benicio voiced silently watching Draco walk off. He could tell Draco did not mean the last line, but said it because of the pressure to be in the Slytherin house. Draco was far more promising than Benicio was in his fifth year and Benicio knew all too well how Draco felt. He then proceeded to pick up Hermione's forgotten books and bag. "I'll have Ash return this later, wherever he is."

It took several minutes for Skylar to find Hermione. She had ran out of Hogwarts and too the lake. Skylar looked out at the lake for a moment reminiscing her fourth year at Hogwarts when the Triwizard Tournament took place. She, along with Ron, Cho and Fluers sister were tied down unconscious and underwater. Harry, Victor Crum, Cedric Diggory and Fluer were the champions who went down to save them.

However, this was not the time to think back on old memories. Skylar walked up beside Hermione and took a seat down. "Were the Slytherin's teasing you about your lineage?" She asked. Hermione nodded as she sobbed.

"I know it hurts. I'm muggle-born as well. But one of these days you have to stand up for yourself. You can't let them push you around all the time," Skylar said to Hermione. It only took a moment for Skylar to realize Hermione did not wear the red and gold colors of Gryffindor but the bronze and blue of Ravenclaw. Skylar smiled a bit. The sorting hat had thought of placing her in Ravenclaw, but Skylar told the hat she wanted to go to Gryffindor. It seems Hermione did not have the courage Skylar had when she was young.

"I'm not like you," Hermione said through her sobs. "I'm not that brave or strong."

Again, Skylar smiled. Hermione had no idea she was talking to an older self of another world. "You know, Hermione, no one's born brave and strong. Not even Asher. He had his fears and sometimes he did cower away." Hermione scoffed at the notion, but Skylar continued, "However, one day Asher was face with the choice between running away and confronting his fears. If he ran, he would lose his friends. If he confronted his fears, there was a chance he would die. But for the sake of his friends, he stood and confronted his fears, and won."

"Yeah, but I'm not Asher. I don't have friends to lean on."

Skylar stared at Hermione with a sad expression. What in the world happened to make her this way? Skylar asked herself. By the looks of things, she doubted Hermione would tell her what was troubling her. "Is Ash not your friend?"

Hermione's sobs slowed as she lifted her head to face Skylar. "I don't know."

"Do you want him as your friend?"

The question had a simple answer. Hermione wanted Asher as her friend. "I don't know," she answered as she turned to look towards the lake. "I don't know what a friend really is."

Skylar turned to look across the lake as well before responding, "A friend is someone you can trust with your life, someone who will never betray you and will always be there to guide you through your darkest hour."

"How do I know Asher won't betray me?" It was a question Hermione had to ask. No one had been kind to her without a secret motive. No one had stood by her side when she needed them. No one has ever been trustworthy enough to not betray her.

"Well you don't. But I do. Asher is an old friend of mine and I know for a fact that he would lay his life on the line to protect you."

"Why are you and Mr. Black both telling me to be friends with Asher?"

Skylar smiled. Even she was faster than Hermione when Skylar was her age. The complete answer is, 'Because he likes you,' but Skylar wanted Hermione to figure that out for herself. "Because he is trying really hard to be your friend."

"Is he?" Now the sobbing had stopped and the tears had dried. The wind blew a cool breeze that pushed all the hair covering their faces away behind them revealing their faces. If someone was there watching, they would have thought the two were sisters.

"Let's see, he comforted you while you were crying your eyes out on top of Hog's Head and made the boys clean up the inn as punishment. Then took you to Diagon Alley where he provide you with the galleons you needed to purchase all your needs. And most recently, fought two trolls to protect you. Would anyone be that stupid to do something like that if they did not want to be your friend?"

Hermione did not answer the question out loud, but knew the answer in her mind. "What do I do?" Skylar turned her eyes to look at Hermione, not understanding the question. "How do I become his friend?"

"To Ash, you are already his friend. It's up to you if you will accept his friendship."


	14. Chapter 14

Harry walked into Franklin's office expecting to see the new professor. Instead, he found Lily Evans sitting at one of the chairs before Franklin's desk. When she turned and saw him, Harry tried to speak but all that came out was, "Uh... um..."

Lily sat still in her seat unsure of what to do. She had not expected Franklin to make them meet so soon. Neither had Franklin given her any kind of warning. "Hello, Harry," was all she could say.

"Hello, Professor Evans," Harry responded. It felt weird saying it just then even though Harry had addressed Lily like that over the course of five years in her potions class. "Um... Is Professor Prince here?" He asked uncomfortably which Lily could see.

Lily, too, was uncomfortable with this situation. Nervous as well. The fifteen year old boy who stood before her was her son that she had never spoken to since her divorce with James shortly after Harry's birth. James remarried a year later and had several more children, but Harry was her son. "Well, he isn't here at the moment. I'm not sure where he is."

"Uh... well I'm suppose to have detention with him..." Harry responded as he took a seat next to Lily. He knew she was his mother. Harry's father, James, had always told him so, although they had opted to keep that fact between their own family. Sirius Black, his godfather, knew, but not many others did.

Suddenly, a flash sparked on the desk and a piece of paper fell. They turned to look at the paper and read, "Please forgive me. An urgent matter with Asher came up so I will not be able to have a chat with you before Harry came for detention. And as for the matter of detention, Harry, you will be assigned to help Professor Evans for the rest of the day. I'm sure she won't mind an extra hand."

"Um... so..." Harry began, breaking a long silence.

"Right," Lily said as she put down the note. "Well, since Professor Prince assigned you as my helping hand, we could start with putting away the potion ingredients left in the dungeons by my last class..."

"Sure..." Harry agreed. It was not that he did not want to go with his mother, it was... Harry could not figure out what was causing him to be so nervous. He always wanted to speak to his mother, but their time apart had made an invisible barrier between them.

Lily was nervous as well. She nearly fell over when she stood up from her seat. Luckily Harry had not seen her stumble back down into the chair. Then she stood up again and this time her legs were not as shaky. Together, they left Franklin's office and headed to the Dungeon.

In the shadows around the corner, Franklin peaked his head around to see Lily walk off with her son. "You are one slick bastard, you know that?" a voice said from behind. Franklin smiled knowing full well who the voice belonged to. "I've been blowing my brains apart trying to figure out a way to get those two together for the better part of the last five years and you did it in less than a day!"

"Comes with practice," Franklin replied as he followed the pair of mother and son down just to make sure things did not go sour. "Coming, Sirius?"

"Well, I've got nothing else to do," Sirius replied as he followed Franklin down to the Dungeon. When they reached the dungeon, the two stood near the door to eavesdrop onto the ongoing conversation. "It seems they are finally talking," Sirius noted quietly.

"Yeah, but they're still uncomfortable. Still talking about class."

"Well, you can't expect too much in the first meeting."

"I am hoping to get them a bit more comfortable," Franklin told Sirius. However, this was the first meeting. At least things did not go sour. "I don't suppose you can watch over the pair, can you? I have a little surprise for my younger son."

"Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do at the moment," Sirius replied, agreeing to Franklin's request. And then Franklin was off to lay one hell of a surprise on Asher, the Prince of Mischief.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Asher screamed as he read a piece of paper his adoptive father had passed to him. "This can't be right, old man! Why am I repeating my fifth year when Ben gets an apprenticeship for Dueling?!" Asher asked as he shock the piece of paper at Franklin.

"Well, you don't have the qualifications to work at the Ministry or can I have you running around in the outside world alone. Who knows what kind of chaos you would cause." Franklin said with a straight face. It had taken much practice to not laugh at Asher. He almost burst out during Asher's initial reaction. It felt good to get back at the Prince of Mischief. "And you are not repeating. You are starting at your fifth year, which means you will have Owls to take and pass." Asher groaned to this knowledge. Of course, no one at Hogwarts with the exception of Franklin, Benicio and Skylar knew about Asher's first Owls.

"Wait, have I been sorted yet?" Asher asked with renewed life. Franklin slapped his hand onto his face. How could he have forgotten about the sorting? Placing Asher into Slytherin would have even furthered Asher's misery, but it seems this flaw was one that would cost Franklin a quite supper tonight.

"Unfortunately, you have not been sorted," Franklin responded, but Asher was jumping and howling before Franklin got past the first word.

Asher charged down the hall, carefully dodging every student that walked by. He was head directly to the old lion's office to retrieve the sorting hat. Boy would he make Franklin pay for forgetting to presort Asher. But when he reached the end of the hall, a giant black sword stopped him. "Sorry, Ben! Kinda in a hurry!"

Benicio walked out from around the corner and tossed Asher a bag and stack of books. "Well, whatever has got you in a hurry can wait. Hermione left this behind after a row with Draco."

Asher caught it quickly and his excitement faded. "Did you hear the exchange?"

"No. Sky and I got there just as she took off in tears," his brother replied as he sheathed his sword and sent it back to his room. "I sent Sky to talk with Hermione. I think things have calmed down, but return her stuff before the pranking quintets come about."

Without another word, Asher dashed off in search of Hermione. He found her sitting alone by the lake. "Hey," he greeted as he sat down beside her. "Here's your stuff you dropped earlier."

"Thanks," Hermione said as she took her belongings back from Asher. "Asher, why is it that you smile all the time?"

"Because it's better than a frown," Asher replied jokingly which Hermione chuckled to.

"I wish my life could be as happy as yours."

Asher looked at Hermione as she stared off towards the lake with her deep brown eyes. "My life wasn't always this happy. I had my sad times too, but my friends helped me stand up. They showed me happiness can come in the darkest hours of your life. They taught me to smile every chance I can."

"Asher, am I your friend?"

"Of course," Asher responded with a smile. "You were my friend from the moment I met you at Hog's Head."

"Thank you, Asher," Hermione said as she leaned her head against Asher's shoulder.

"There's no need to thank me for anything," Asher said as he brushed his hand against her hair. "This is what friends do for each other." Asher looked out towards the lake and saw two figures flying. "Have you ever flown on the back of a Hippogriff." Asher asked out of the blue.

Hermione looked up as saw a grin across Asher's face. It made her wonder what he was up to, so she answered, "No. They're dangerous creatures."

"Actually, they are just misunderstood," Asher quoted Hagrid's saying from his world. He then let out a cry which called both of the figures across the lack over. Two creatures with a head of an eagle, body of a horse, taloned feet and great feather wings landed before Asher and Hermione. As Asher stood, Hermione gripped his arm tightly and hid behind him afraid of the great creatures. "Hippogriffs are proud creatures and the slightest movement can anger them. But if you bow your head down low," Asher said as he lowered his head down. Hermione did the same fearing the creatures would attack if she did not. "And wait until they acknowledged you," Asher continued before the Hippogriffs bowed down as well, "then they will let you pet them."

Asher walked forward with a very scared Hermione at his side. He had done this once before. The entire class had volunteered Asher by stepping back in unison making Hagrid believe he had stepped forward. It was not bad after the Hippogriff acknowledged you. Asher petted one of the Hippogriffs with his free hand. "Don't be scared, Hermione. It won't bite." Asher pulled Hermione up next to the Hippogriff and pulled up one of her arms to make her pet it. After a few strokes, Hermione's fear subsided a bit, but she was beginning to feel comfortable around the great creatures.

"I told you it won't bite! Right Buckbeak?" Asher said to the Hippogriff they were petting.

"Buckbeak?" Hermione asked turning to look at Asher.

"Yeah, Buckbeak. I just named him. The girl to the left is Witherwings!" Asher said with a grin. These had been the names of a Hippogriff Asher and Skylar had rescued in their third year back in their world and time. "Hop on, Buckbeak will let us ride!" Asher said as the Hippogriff lowered to let Asher and Hermione mount it's back. Hermione looked at Asher skeptically wondering if the great creatures would let them on.

When Asher noticed the doubt in Hermione's eyes, he pulled her close and mounted the Hippogriff with her in his arms. "Do you trust me?" He asked.

"Yes!" Hermione shouted with her eyes shut.

"Here we go!" Asher said as he patted the Hippogriff on its neck signaling it to fly. And up they flew. "Open your eyes Hermione! I won't drop you!" Asher shouted as they flew over the lake. It took him a few tried before Hermione finally agreed to open her eyes. When she did, she never let it close; not even to blink. "This is the beauty of flying!" Asher shouted as they crossed the lake and flew above the forest on Buckbeak's back. Witherwings was not far behind them as they circled back to pick up Hermione's bag and books before heading over to Hogwarts.


	15. Chapter 15

Asher sat with one arm on the back of his chair and the other one scratching his head while Rufus Scrimgeour screaming at the top of his lungs at Asher. Dolores Umbridge was there as well, but Asher was hardly listening. He yawned nonchalantly before Rufus slammed both hands down onto the table and screamed, "Are you even LISTENING to me?"

"Nope," Asher answered truthfully and had little reason to care what the old lion thought of him.

Earlier, Asher had landed two Hippogriffs in Hogwarts scaring half the students to death. Buckbeak and Witherwings flew away shortly afterwards, but not before several teachers came out screaming at him about how dangerous Hippogriffs were. Asher ignored them for a moment and sent Hermione off before she got tied up in the mess.

It was then that Hagrid walked in, and again scaring half the students to death, to defend Hippogriffs. So did Professor Grubbly-Plank, but Umbridge would not allow Asher to get off so easily. Neither did Rufus. So here Asher was sitting in the Headmaster's office bored out of his mind. The old lion was roaring again, but Asher completely blocked out his voice.

"You know, Rufus, if you listened to your fellow peers, you would agree that Hippogriffs are quiet safe _if _you know how to handle one," a female voice cut into Rufus's shouting.

Asher almost shouted out, "Thank you!" to the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw as she showed up replacing Phineas Black, but refrained from revealing his relation to the Founders. Rufus fell over in his seat in shock to the voice. It seemed that the old lion had not forgotten the visit from the ghost of the Founders Asher had arranged a few days ago.

"Asher Prince will be let out of your office without punishment," Rowena's said as her sharp eyes pierced through Rufus and Umbridge. No one could counter that stare. Not even Salazar. "Now, without further adieu, take the sorting hat and begin supper."

Asher grabbed the hat and left before either Rufus or Umbridge recovered from Rowena's visit. "Not you again!" The hat said to Asher when they were clear out of hearing range. "Am I going to sort you or are you going to tell me which house you want me to put you in?"

Asher grinned as he walked down the call. When he was clear out of hearing range, he said to the hat, "If you put me in Ravenclaw, I promise I won't bother you as much." A twinkle sparked in his green eye and the hat could tell the promise was genuine. It let out a soft scowl agreeing to Asher's terms.

He was chuckling when he entered the great hall, but Asher's fun was cut short when Franklin snatched away the hat from his arms. A glare from his father sent him whimpering to a seat across from Benicio at the Slytherin table. He glanced at Franklin and could see his adoptive father whispering something to the hat that he did not want anyone else to hear. Especially Asher. But Asher had a feeling Franklin could not persuade the old hat to change it's mind. After all, Asher had given the sorting hat an offer no one would refuse.

Asher's line of sight was blocked when several students walked up. He could see they all wore the silver and green badge of the Slytherin house. One of them held out his hand and said, "Welcome to Slytherin."

Asher looked up to see a silvered haired and silver eyed boy who seemed older than Asher's current age. "Sorry, I don't like to associate myself with bullies or assholes," Asher replied ignoring the hand. He had intentionally been rude to the young man who looked very close to Draco who sat down the table with Crabbe, Goyle, Blaize and Theodore. Even Benicio was surprised how uncannily similar the young man looked like Draco.

A sharp glare shot down at Asher's back, but Asher just laid his head down lazily. Asher did not fear bullying. In fact, he welcomed it. It gave him adequate reason to mess with the lives of others and have fun as well. He considered himself and anti-bully if such a term existed. He followed the strict code of chivalry loosely. Asher defended the weak and oppressed from the strong and oppressors, but he hardly fought fair. Sneak attacks and trickery were his weapons.

When the group of older Slytherins walked away, he whispered to his brother, "Who was that?"

"Falco Malfoy," Benicio replied simply. It seemed that he had an older brother in this world. That might have been why Draco was so angry earlier. Benicio had heard gossip that Draco had another run in with the Prince of Slytherin. It seemed he, his father and Asher had crowned the wrong prince.

Asher let out a sigh. Once Malfoy was already more than enough to deal with, but two? And what's up with the naming? Draco and Falco? Almost the same name. Asher just let the thoughts dissipate for the moment and looked around waiting to be sorted.

Most students were staring blankly at the hat and murmuring to their friends asking why the hat was in the room again. Then Rufus and Umbridge walked into the Great Hall and announced, "It seems we have missed sorting a student. Asher Prince." Asher stood up and strolled happily down the aisle to don the hat.

'Your father won't be happy...' it said into his mind.

'It's just payback for trying to pull a fast one on me,' Asher replied before the hat screamed, "RAVENCLAW!" At that moment, when the cheering came from the Ravenclaw table, Asher turned to look at his father who clasped both hands over his face. Asher burned this memory into his mind and made sure he would never forget it. He was not named 'The Prince of Mischief' by Rowena for no reason.

"Well, that settles things," Rufus said as the cheering died down. "Asher Prince will be joining the Ravenclaws as a fifth year." Asher walked down the aisle and made his way to the Ravenclaw table where he sat himself down next to Hermione.

"Why are you sitting next to me?" Hermione asked under her breath in a low enough voice that only Asher heard. He just gave her a croaked smile before a swarm of Ravenclaws swarmed around him.

Among them was Cho Chang, the girl Harry Potter had a crush on for a while. But Asher was far from his days as Harry Potter. There was the air headed Luna Lovegood who Asher knew was infatuated with weird conspiracies. Terry Boot, Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil and other Ravenclaw members of DA, better known as Dumbledore's Army, were also present.

The conversation quickly changed from introductions to questions about his fight with the two trolls. Asher flaunted his role as the 'knight in shining armor' while making Hermione the 'damsel in distress' which made her blush as she sat next to him. Several times Hermione interjected to 'fix' exaggerated facts and to her surprise, they actually took note of it.

Dinner had gone better than Asher expected. He was able to meet all of Cho's friends he did not meet as Harry Potter. Kelly Hu sat next to Cho. She was a quiet girl of Chinese descent. Kelly had all the usual Chinese features like long straight black hair and black slightly slanted eyes, a sharper face and a thin build. But Kelly was tall for a Chinese female. When she stood, she reached a height of five feet and nine inches, excluding the height of her shoes.

Asher stood a whopping three inches taller at a flat six feet. At least Kelly did not have to worry about meeting guys that are discouraged to date her because of her height. Most boys grew to at least six feet. Alyson and Heidi Hall were twin blonds with fair skin that enjoyed to gossip. Asher could tell Hermione was having trouble ignoring the two. They stood an inch taller than Kelly without counting their four inch heels. Both wore heavy makeup and they were descendants of a wealthy wizarding family. At least they weren't as bad as the Slytherins who looked down upon everyone that wasn't a Slytherin or pureblood. Alyson and Heidi usually gossiped about fashions with Cho, Kelly and Sadie Wright.

Sadie was the ultimate stuck up snob. She had curly brown hair that Asher knew she spent hours on every morning, deep and sharp green eyes that could pierce through anyone she spoke to (with few exceptions) and a tall and slender build. She complained about everything and everyone. Asher tended to avoid conversing with the fairy princess. Apparently she had a stock of boys around her do her work. It was easy to keep Sadie distracted long enough to escape into another conversation with anyone else.

Asher found it fairly easy to strike up a conversation between Hermione, Rachel Clarke and Melinda Johnson. Rachel and Melinda had similar features, like short dirty blond hair, rounder facial features and warm blue eyes. However, their personalities differed. Rachel enjoyed laughing out loud to jokes while Melinda was more reserved, but showed enough emotion to tell if she enjoyed the joke or not. Melinda followed school rules word by word while Rachel used it as a guideline. They both are excellent students since this was the house of the intellectuals.

At the end of supper, Asher found his way back up to the Ravenclaw commonroom with the chasers of the Ravenclaw Quiddich team. It seems most of the boys were intimidated by the group of girls surrounding Cho that they had not approached Asher in the beginning. He couldn't blame them. It's not easy for guys to walk by a group of very attractive girls without doing something stupid. But Asher had a lot of practice. Asher also made sure to keep Hermione as close to his side as possible. It was hard getting her to talk to anyone, or anyone to talk to her. But Asher still tried. The poor girl was shut out nearly everywhere she went.

After reaching the commonroom, Hermione broke off and left to her prefect bedroom in the girls dormitory. Asher would have followed, but he did not want to reveal to everyone his ability to sneak past the wards keeping boys out of the girls dormitory. It was one of the things he was proud of. Like Benicio was proud of his Dragon Heartstone. Asher had won the rights to enter the girls dormitory of the Ravenclaw tower in a bet against Rowena. A bet in a debate. He had won on a technicality, which usually means he lost, but Gordic and Salazar ruled that Asher won. The two did not have a fun time sitting down for the next month. Asher decided to sneak up there later, after he got rid of the chasers.

Hermione slumped into bed after a nice warm shower. For the first time, she was able to enjoy a conversation with someone else. Her chat with Rachel and Melinda gave her hundreds of tips on how to pass her classes and obtain O's on the exam at the end of the year. It also boosted her confidence in talking with others. But this was all possible thanks to Asher Prince. She then lay her face down into her pillow and rested.

"I like what you did with this place," a male voice spoke. It was Asher! But how in the name of Merlin did he get in? Hermione jumped up in her bed and turned to Asher to speak when he cut her off saying, "Don't bother trying to figure that out. And it would be best if you kept this a secret."

Hermione looked at Asher with confused eyes. He had a crooked smile across his face as he walked up to her bed. He had answered her question before she had even asked it. Well, sort of.

"I'm told I am a natural born Legilimens." It was partially true, but Asher knew it would be harder to explain if he said he died and was reborn with these abilities. So he just left out the 'death' part. "Another secret that would be nice if you kept only to yourself. I can peer into your mind without you knowing. I do refrain from looking too deep."

"Then you're not a squib."

"No, not really. I was born a wizard, but lost wand wielding abilities when I was young. I technically became a 'squib', but I was able to keep some abilities like Legilimens and Occlumens. Later on, artifacts like these two gauntlets," Asher pulled up his arms revealing two beautiful silver gauntlets with golden etchings. On the back of the gauntlets, two large stones were connected. "which allowed me to use magic." When he let his arms fall, the gauntlets disappeared.

"Where do they go when you're not using it?" Hermione asked as Asher sat down next to her.

Asher smiled at the question. Like Skylar, Hermione had a thirst for knowledge that few could quench. "On my back. I have my daggers sheathed there too, but I hid them in another plane so most people and creatures cannot see them. You can touch them though. Works like an invisibility cloak," Asher replied as Hermione put a hand out. She felt something solid on his back.

When she retracted her hand, Hermione saw several necklaces dangling on Asher's neck. "Where did you get those necklaces?"

Asher almost could not hold his surprise. He looked down at the three relatively new necklaces he was given when he was lost in time. "Which ones do you see?" He asked. Most people could not see it. Even Franklin and Benicio didn't see it. Amber and Emily did as well as James and Lily. Asher could not understand why people can or cannot see it.

"I see one with a golden chain with a decorated golden sword and one with a silver chain and an oval locket," Hermione replied.

Asher let out a chuckle as he lifted the one with the golden sword. No one had ever seen this one or it's matching pair which still hung around his neck. The other sword was an exact replica of Excalibur, which happened to be golden as well, while the one he held in his hand was a replica of the invisible sword Clarent. Few people knew of the existance of Clarent. Even fewer knew how the sword looked like. There have been many speculations, but everyone was just guessing. However, Asher knew what Excalibur, Clarent and even the third legendary sword of King Arthur's time, Caliburn, looked like. It might not have been accidental that Asher landed in that time period when he was lost in time.

The other one held a locket which, when opened, showed a picture of everyone Asher had met and became either friend or family with. "You can't see the third necklace, can you?" Asher asked as he held up Excalibur's replica. Hermione looked hard, but could not see it. Those who saw any of the necklaces, only saw the locket. In the few cases where people saw two, only Clarent was visable. Skylar and the children she bore were able to see Clarent, but not Excalibur. James, Lily, Amber and Emily were the only ones who saw Excalibur, but not Clarent.

"This here is the sword Clarent," Asher explained to Hermione as he lifted the beautiful sword once more.

"This is the sword that Mordred used against King Arthur?" Hermione asked with much interest. Asher thought about correcting Hermione's ill knowledge of the true story of King Arthur, but that could wait for another time. Asher was more focused on the magical properties of the sword.


	16. Chapter 16

A bell signaled for the start of class and Franklin still had not seen his younger, and more mischievous son, Asher in the class. Asher hardly missed a class of Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was one of the few classes where he could show off his skills to Hermione. Franklin had little doubt in his mind that Asher had fallen for the girl and knew full well that Asher still did not have the slightest clue how he truly felt. Asher could be denser than a lead wall sometimes.

As for Hermione, Franklin was unsure if she felt the same. In the end, Franklin was sure Asher and Hermione would be together, but Franklin was wondering if she had started to develop the emotions needed for a relationship to begin. Trust. Friendship. Love. These were all tricky emotions that could easily lead to the destruction of oneself. Hermione probably had little experience with these emotions as well. She often sat alone in the class, until Asher came. He was the only person who ever got her to talk besides answering questions.

"Alright class," Franklin began as everyone took out a quill and parchment for notes. He had yet to decide todays lecture when the person he was waiting for walked through the door.

"Sorry, old man. I had a run in with an old harry friend," Asher said, but did not take a seat.

It only took a moment for Franklin to register that the 'harry friend' was none other than the werewolf Remus Lupin. "How is he?"

"In bad shape. Looks as though he's been deprived of food and water. Maybe sleep as well. I let him rest in his usual spot." A wave of worries sounded through the classroom from the girls thinking they were talking about a pet dog. Asher looked over to Hermione who knew they weren't talking about dogs. He doubted she would figure it out without more clues.

"Well, it seems an emergency has come to my attention," Franklin announced to the class. Mixed feelings came from the classroom, but he continued, "I might be gone for the rest of the day, but I will have," Franklin looked around, but his mind was already made up, "Hermione Granger and Asher Prince teach the Patronus Charm."

Hermione slapped her quill down on the table and Asher knew she had stopped trying to figure out what he and his father was referring to. Asher did not mind teaching the class the Patronus Charm, but he needed Dementors. Or charmed Boggarts like the time Lupin taught him in his third year at Hogwarts.

"You will find the necessary teaching material in my office," Franklin said before walking out.

As he passed Asher, Asher whispered, "It'd be best if you took _all _your potions." Franklin gave a slight nod before continuing out of the classroom. Asher then went to his father's office and brought out several boxes that had a hard time keeping still. He turned to Hermione and said, "Like to explain about the Patronus Charm?"

Annoyed by the sudden instruction to teach the class, Hermione slammed her notes shut and walked up to the podium and started, "The Patronus Charm is a high level conjuring spell." Hermione nearly rolled her eyes wondering why the professor would want her to teach the spell. "The incantations are 'Expecto Patronum' which literally translates to 'I expect a protector'. If done correctly, the spell caster will conjure a silver mist which will turn into an animal that reflects the caster's personality. Besides the incantation and the correct wand movements, the caster must concentrate on a happy though or memory." When she finished, Hermione turned to Asher who was sitting on one of the boxes to keep it from knocking over the others.

"How about some practice?" Asher said, almost gleefully. He had thought about setting the six Boggart-charmed-Dementors onto the class, but he doubted anyone could produce a full Patronus besides himself. So he turned to Hermione and said, "Let's start off with you, Hermione."

Hermione just turned to Asher and glared. She hated receiving so much attention and Asher knew that. Hermione would have just like to sit at her desk, take notes, answer questions and read from the book.

"First start off with a happy thought or memory. It is best to bring out one in which you are happiest in." Asher almost felt like Lupin back when he was the DADA teacher of Asher in his third year. "Do you have one?" Hermione thought back to her recent memories. When she found one, she nodded and Asher let one of the charmed Bogarts out.

Concentrating on the memory, Hermione waved her wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" but only a silver vapor appeared and dissipated the next moment. Then, she suddenly felt cold. Colder than it has ever been. Then memories of her past began to emerge. And just as sudden as the bad memories appeared, it went away.

"Not bad," she heard Asher say as he handed her a piece of chocolate. "Eat it, you'll feel better."

Hermione took the chocolate and shoved it down. She did feel better, but not completely. Yet, she stood up and said, "Let me try it again."

Asher looked at Hermione and smiled. This was the Hermione Granger he knew. But she did not have a happy enough memory the last time and Asher knew how few happy memories Hermione had. So he leaned forward and whispered into her ear, "Think of your happiest memory." Hermione's first thoughts were again on Diagon Alley, but then she remembered an even happier memory.

Asher pulled away and open the box once more. He knew which memory Hermione had in mind. He knew it would be enough. Once more the charmed Boggart rose from the box. The room began to freeze over, but Hermione waved her wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" Again a silver stream came out and it began to take form. The entire class watched as two silver wings spread out wide from the back of a humanoid figure.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a figure of an angel. However, Asher knew this reflected Hermione the most. She needed a 'guardian angel' so to speak. And that was the role he wished to play. Hermione controlled the Patronus and pushed the charmed Boggart back into the box. When Asher shut the box, the entire class began to applaud. Hermione blushed, for this was the first time she had received appraisal from another classmate, let alone the rest of the class.

"Of course Patronus's take many shapes and forms of different animals," Asher said as he opened all six boxes and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" a silver bird flew out from his gauntlet pushing all the Dementors back. Asher had long since learned how to control the shape of his Patronus. His first shape was a stag, second was a lion, third was a sword and the raven was his fourth. He liked the sword better, but the raven worked just as well. When he pushed all six charmed Boggarts back, he turned back to the class and asked, "Now, which six of you would like to go first?"

Franklin rushed out to the Shrieking Shack as fast as he could after retrieving all his potions dealing with werewolves. As he reached the old shack, he noticed there were several wards protecting the place. It was more likely to keep people from coming out than getting in. Franklin just ignored it and blasted the wards away and stalked in. He did not have time to carefully deal with each ward.

Upon entering, he heard violent growling which he presumed to be Remus Lupin. Franklin carefully made his approach only to find the poor man stuck in his werewolf form and chained down. It looks like he was beaten as well. "Sorry, Remus, but this will hurt," Franklin apologized in advance as he stunned the werewolf. Then he proceeded to pour the first potion of his set into the werewolf's mouth before taking a few steps back.

Suddenly, the werewolf began to twitch. It started off mild, but it became more and more violent as time passed. It was then that Sirius stormed in with his wand drawn screaming, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?"

However, Franklin ignored the wand and said, "I gave him a potion that will force him back to his human form." The twitching slowed as the fur began to shorten as well as the limbs. Soon, the werewolf was back into his human form. "Will you continue to let me treat him?" Franklin asked Sirius.

"Can you treat him?"

"Yes. Among the potions I have here is one called 'Wolfsbane'. It can suppress the wolf form completely. I also have another potion that can separate his wolf from from his human form, making him human once more."

Sirius stared at Franklin wide eyed in awe and quickly lowered his wand. "Please help him!" he pleaded.

"I will," Franklin promised as he brought up another potion and poured it into the man's mouth. Remus slowly swallowed and color began to return to his body. When Remus was fully awake, Franklin sat him upright.

Remus looked at the man before him, studied Franklin a bit before asking, "Severus?"


	17. Chapter 17

Sirius looked wide eyed in horror from Remus to Franklin and then back to Remus. "Remus, Severus died..."

"But he's right here! This man has the same scent! You know I never doubt my sense of smell, Sirius!" Remus shouted in return.

Franklin sat back and looked at the two men before saying, "Yes, I am Severus Snape. But I am not the Severus Snape you know. I am from another world similar to this one and unfortunately was friends with none of you. I was a Slytherin. Sorry for lying to you, Sirius." The two men let their jaw drop in surprise. They had no idea how to respond. "It was easy fooling everyone, but I doubted I could get past Remus's sense of smell. He was the only one who I had planned to let know who I am until you charged in."

"You said something about 'Wolfsbane'. You- I mean Severus was working on it before he died. Did you complete it?" Sirius asked quickly after regaining his composure.

"Yes I did, but Remus cannot take it just yet. Here I have four potions Remus can take," Franklin said as he laid down four vials. "The first one from my right is Wolfsbane. It will completely suppress your wolf from. You can take this one tomorrow. Unfortunately you have been in your werewolf form for far too long to take it now. You need a full nights rest before taking it. The next one allows you to transform into your werewolf form by will which would turn you into an animagus. You can take it a week after Wolfsbane. But even after taking these two potions, you will still be a werewolf. A continual administration of Wolfsbane will be needed to keep control over your other half. However, this third potion will transform your werewolf form to that of a wolf. This is to be taken two weeks after the second potion. Like Wolfsbane, this potion is not permanent. However, this last potion, which can be taken a day after the third potion will split you and your wolf from apart. After taking this series of potions, you will be human once more. However, the choice to become human is yours."

"I say you do it, Remus," Sirius recommended without a second thought.

"You know you haven't changed much, right, Sirius?" Remus said with a chuckle.

"So?" Sirius replied feigning hurt.

"I'll take it," Remus assured his friend. "If I don't, you'll probably shove it down my throat."

The two men laughed at the last notion before remembering a third man was in their presence. "I would prefer if the two of you could keep Severus Snape dead. There are other secrets I must keep for now, but I trust the two of you can refer to me as 'Franklin Prince'." Franklin looked at the two men who looked like they were hurt. "In private conversations, you may call me Severus," Franklin compromised. A smile lit across both mens faces as they quickly agreed to the conditions.

"For now, we need to replace the wards," Franklin said as he stood up. "I'm sorry, Remus, but you will have to stay here a bit longer. Rufus and Umbridge would probably try something on you if they see you walking around in your human form."

"He doesn't have to stay here forever, does he?" Sirius asked worriedly. Remus had been locked up in this shack for the past ten years with no visitors.

"No. I plan to remove Umbridge the first chance I get. You wouldn't know where Minerva is, would you?" Franklin asked as he replaced the first ward.

"No," the two responded in unison.

"How about Slughorn? He might know something about her whereabouts."

"I doubt it," Remus replied. "He left Hogwarts right after Dumbledore's death and cut himself off from the wizarding world. Minerva left Hogwarts two years later and suddenly disappeared."

"James or Peter might know something," Sirius said.

"Peter? As in Peter Pettigrew?" Franklin asked as he turned to face the two men with a grim face.

"Yes. We call him Wormtail."

"He is a rat. Not just as an animagus," Franklin scowled in anger.

"What's wrong with Peter?" Sirius asked fairly confused. Peter was one of the five Marauders and a close friend.

"Oh nothing besides telling Voldemort where to go to kill James and Lily Potter," Franklin let out without much thought. It was only to the shocked reactions of Sirius and Remus that he realized he spoke his thoughts out loud.

"What do you mean?" Remus and Sirius asked in unison.

Franklin wanted to hit himself for being so careless. Then again it was hard not to hate Peter for what he did. He was punished by Franklin's hand though. In his world. "In my world, a prophecy was made that a child born as the seventh month dies whose parents thwarted the dark lord thrice will have the power to destroy Voldemort. Harry was marked as the boy and Voldemort chose him. There are more details, but we can skip it for another time. James and Lily wanted you, Sirius, to be the secret-keeper, but at the last minute you convinced them to change it to Peter. He gave up their location which lead to their untimely deaths and the scaring of Harry for his life."

The two men slumped over in shock and horror. This event had not taken place in their world, but the thought of Peter betraying them was hard to take in. "What happened to Harry?" was all either could ask.

"He lived and was forever marked as 'the-boy-who-lived'. Harry was sent to live with Petunia who, along with Vernon and Dudley, treated him the worst any human could treat another." Franklin shuddered at the memories of watching Harry's mistreatment from his uncle and aunt.

"Why couldn't we help?" Sirius asked.

"There was no Wolfsbane for your condition at the time, so Remus, you couldn't take care of him. Sirius, you went on a mad rampage to kill Peter, but he killed 12 muggles, severed his pinky and framed you for the murders. You were sent to Azkaban so you were out of the question. As for me," Franklin paused for a moment to turn away. "I was the one who told Voldemort the prophecy. It was a mistake I could not fix or redeem myself from."

Sirius rushed forward but Remus was able to hold him back. "Why would you do that? Do you not love Lily?" Sirius screamed as he tried to break free.

"I do love Lily, but my world is much different from yours. There were four Marauders. I was not a part of it. You and James picked on me whenever you had a chance and I hated you for it. I eventually became friends with James, but we never showed it publicly. But I hated you, Sirius. You almost got me killed once. You led me here on one of the nights Remus was changing without warning. Had it not been for James I would have died."

Sirius settled down when he heard the second half. "I'm sorry, I didn't know..." he began to apologize.

"You broke out of Azkaban," Franklin chuckled. "The first wizard to do so because you were an unregistered animagus. Harry almost killed you thinking you were responsible for James and Lily's death. Remus jumped in stopping the fight between you and Harry. I waltzed in stupidly trying to catch you, Sirius. I still hated you. You were able to prove your innocence to Harry, his friends and Remus that day. Harry helped you escape later on, but you were still wanted. You had not been cleared because Peter ran back to Voldemort."

"What happened to Harry?" Remus asked, curious how his best friends son fared in the other world.

"He fought. Fought like the prophecy said. Fought until Voldemort's death. Then he died."

"He..." the two men began, unable to finish the question.

"Yes. However not before two of us were able to bind his soul to his body. It cost us part of our soul. So in a sense, I am partially dead."

"Two?"

"If one person performed the spell, it would take his life. If two performed the spell, it would take half of their soul. Equivalent trade. But we were only able to secure half of his soul. Because of this, none of us can really live or die. So the three of us began a journey to fill our missing half."

"Three? Four of you came with seven children," Sirius stated.

Franklin smiled. Taking Skylar had been Benicio's request. Originally the Gatekeeper of Time would only allow three to pass, but somehow Benicio changed the Gatekeeper's mind. "You will meet them later, Remus, but as I am Severus Snape, Benicio Black is Draco Malfoy and Asher Prince is Harry Potter. Skylar is Hermione Granger. Amber and Emily are twins of Bill Weasley and Fluer Delacour. Andrew, Michael and Jenny are children of Hermione and Ron Weasley while James and Lily are the children of Harry and Ginny Weasley."

"But... But everyone seems so... different." Sirius could not think of another word to describe how much everyone has changed. Harry, or Asher, was a troublemaker, much like James and Sirius was when they were young. Draco, or Benicio, was not the stuck up younger brother of the Slytherin Prince. Severus, or Franklin, well, they actually were pretty close. But their lives in the past were different. Hermione was not the shy, snotty and lonely girl.

"You'll see why we are so different," Franklin promised as he walked out of the Shrieking Shack. With a few waves of his wand, he replaced all the wards. "We should get back to Hogwarts, Sirius."


	18. Chapter 18

Hermione woke screaming in pain. It felt like something was burned or tattooed onto her back. A few minutes later, the burning passed, but it left her body sore. Hermione laid back down into bed, but as soon as her back touched the sheets, it hurt again. She collapsed out of her bed when she whirled away. It was then that Hermione noticed all the sweat that was dripping from her face and hair. Her pajamas were nearly drenched.

So Hermione decided to shower quickly and inspect why her back was burning. After a quick and careful bath, since the taking a shower would make her back sting, Hermione found a mirror which she could look into to see what happened to her back. What she saw as a colored tattoo of a golden bladed sword whose center lined up with her spine. It started from the back of her neck down to the tip of her tail bone. The handle was laced with silver fabric and the guard was silver and outlined in gold. Upon the golden blade was the rune for 'Protector'.

Two gladius like daggers were to the side of the swords guard with its blades slanted towards the swords blade. Both daggers were drawn on her shoulder blades. A cable was at each end of the dagger linking them together. In the background, a large red and gold flame burned.

Hermione was clueless as to how such a large tattoo could have gotten onto her back overnight. Normally, she would head over to the medical wing and ask Madam Pomfrey, but the head mediwizard had taken a six month vacation and would not return until after Christmas. So Hermione just dressed normally and let her hair cover the tip of the tattoo. It still stung when she touched it though.

Today was like every other Tuesday so far. In the morning, Hermione attended Arithmancy where Asher would do his homework in, then Ancient Runes, which Asher seldom attended because he hated Professor Umbridge. After lunch, she would have double History of Magic, a class where she had never seen Asher awake past the first five minutes. It was amazing how much knowledge he had in all three subjects though. He even corrected the teacher's mistakes several times.

However, this was the day Hermione hated most out of the year. Today was her birthday and so far, it was pretty bad. She was woken abruptly by the sudden tattooing of her back. Hermione had searched the library for clues to why something like that would happen, but found none. As for the image of the tattoo itself, she had found no such references so far. She had remembered reading in History of Hogwarts that the husband of Rowena Ravenclaw had a tattoo of a flame on his back, but so far nothing has been found on the one that was on her back.

She had not noticed Asher sit down beside her until he leaned over to look at the book she was reading. Hermione quickly slammed it shut fearing Asher might find out about her tattoo. One of the few rules of Hogwarts was student must not have any permanent tattoos anywhere on the body. The reasoning behind it was because students would use their tattoos to cheat on tests.

"You know if you want to do research about tattoos, you should go up to the seventh floor and search the books in Rowena's office. She has a collection of the most exotic tattoos." Asher said as he turned back to eat his lunch. He was scribbling down something down onto a parchment that looked like his paper on The Battle of Camlann, a subject that would be taught in class later today.

"How would you know that she has a collection?" Hermione asked, interested, but didn't want to let on too much.

"I sneaked in there once and nicked it. I returned it after flipping through all the pages," Asher replied as he finished his fifth feet.

"You know that's not due until next Tuesday, right?" Hermione asked. Asher usually left his homework undone until the last minute, but for an unknown reason, he had finished a five foot assignment in less than two hours.

"Yeah, but I already know the details of the Battle of Camlann. Interesting battle, but the legends got it all wrong."

The rest of lunch, Asher and Hermione talked about the various views on the Battle of Camlann before the bell rang for their last class. They continued to discuss on the way to class but the discussion never ended since class started. Asher turned in his five feet of writing which surprised everyone in the class including Professor Binns. Asher had never been one to turn in homework early. However, the shock dissipated as soon as Asher laid his head down on the table and slept.

Hermione shook her head wondering how Asher could sleep so much yet be able to answer the professor's questions. Most teachers had stopped docking points off for Asher's tardiness, inattentiveness and the bad habit of falling asleep in class. That was because Asher woke up the moment he heard his name and answered the question completely. Hermione once asked if Asher had just read the professor's mind for the answer, but Asher replied by saying most professors would not answer their own questions with the details he provided. Which was true.

Professor Vector once had Asher prove time travel past a year was impossible with a time turner, but Asher wrote both the solution to the question and the solution to how to make a time turner work past a year. The latter was destroyed without any of the student's eyes ever seeing the proof. Vector still held doubts about the proof, but logically speaking, it was correct. Hermione knew of the same proof, but never had anyone look at it because of how dangerous time travel was.

Although Hermione was bored in the class, she still took notes and listened to the professor while most people drifted between sleep and being awake. Hermione did wish for the class to go by faster. She wouldn't have minded if the entire day had gone by faster. This was the day she wanted to remember the least. Next came Christmas. This was because she had no one to spend it with.

When the bell finally rang for the end of class, Hermione left the classroom and headed up to the seventh floor. Asher somehow had the ability to wake up a few minutes before the bell rang every time without fail. She wondered if anyone had that skill or if it was a charm he created.

It took several tries before Hermione found office of Rowena Ravenclaw. When she walked into the old abandoned office, she found it well organized and dustless. The house-elves must have cleaned the room every day. "Hello," a gentle voice greeted.

Hermione jumped a bit before turning to see the talking portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. She had not expected to see the portrait here. "Hello," Hermione returned with a bow.

The portrait smiled and welcomed Hermione into the room. "What brings you here, Hermione?" the portrait asked as Hermione took a seat. This was her second time meeting the wise and intelligent witch.

"I was looking for a book about tattoos. Asher said you had one in your office."

"Asher Prince?" Rowena asked with a raised eyebrow. It made Hermione wonder Asher was more than acquaintances with the Founders. He called each of them by their first names. Hermione just nodded her head in response while keeping her suspicions to herself. "It would be in the shelf to your right, fifth row down." Hermione got up and faced the bookshelf. It was easy to find since it was the only green book in the row. The others had blue binding. "It was a gift from Salazar," Rowena said answering Hermione's unspoken question. "All I ask is that you return it. Preferably not damaged."

Hermione gave an uneasy nod before running off to the library to read it. It took a few flips before Hermione found the exact tattoo. She quickly read through the description and found the tattoo originated from the tattoo given to a Roman gladiator champion of a coliseum. The original was a branding of the center sword surrounded by fire.

In the sixth century, two gladiator champions, seven women and eight children with the same branding escaped from their captors with the help of a wizard. They came to England and settled down in a small town. Their descendants were tattooed the day they turned fifteen with an altered version which had a sword in the center with 'Protector' scribed onto the blade of the sword. Two gladius shaped daggers were added onto the shoulder blades and connected by a rope. The fire was extended to encompass the daggers as well as the sword.

Hermione carefully closed the book and began to wonder how she was connected to the people she had just read about. She opened up the book once more to reread the article when a voice behind her said, "Happy Birthday, Hermione!" She jumped up in her seat and let out a silent shriek before turning around to see Asher standing behind her with a wrapped box. "Here, open it. It's your present," Asher said handing Hermione a box which she quickly opened. This is the second gift Asher had given her and this one was for her birthday. She found inside the box the replica necklace of Clarent. "I thought it would be a fitting gift since you were one of the few people who can see it."

"But-" Hermione protested, not know what to say. It seemed to hold a past about Asher few knew about. Then again, no one really knew about Asher or his family before their sudden appearance. "Thank you," Hermione said as she put it around her neck. When she looked up again, she saw two necklaces dangling around Asher's neck. "Wait, if this is Clarent, then that's Excalibur?" She asked, pointing to the other replica.

Asher looked down and nearly laughed. It was hard to control his voice in the library. "You're the first one to see all three, Hermione. Yes, this is Excalibur," Asher replied as he held up the other sword. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw a picture he recognized. "You like that tattoo?" Asher asked Hermione as he walked over to sit down next to her.

Hermione turned back to face the table, but it was too late to cover the book. "Yeah, it has an interesting history."

Asher skimmed the passage before saying, "It left out several names. Guinevere and Blaz were the two gladiators. They got the year right. 535 A.D. Merlin was there too."

"Wait, how do you know that?" Hermione asked as she went over to reread the passage. Just earlier today, Asher had told his take on King Arthur and those names popped up.

"You won't find it here. Rowena has several hidden diaries in her office. One of them belong to her husband, Drake Watson. He is a descendant of one of the children that escape and bears that same tattoo on his back. Unfortunately, he was the only surviving member of that line. Camlann was buried shortly after his departure."

"Camlann? As in the town that Arthur's last battle took place?"

"Yeah. Blaz was only able to raise Excalibur to fight because he wanted to protect. No one really knows what happened to Blaz after the battle, or how or why Camlann was buried. Drake said that the day he turned fifteen, this tattoo burned into his back. Some of his children with Rowena had it too. Not all though. This is the distinguishing mark of descendants of Ravenclaw."

"WHAT?!" Hermione screamed in horror as she fell out of her chair.


	19. Chapter 19

Asher moved just quick enough before Hermione hit the ground. She had fell out of her chair in surprise from what Asher had just said. "You alright, Hermione?" He asked as saw her wince in pain.

"Um... How do you know that all descendants of Ravenclaw have that tattoo?" Hermione asked, now able to control her voice.

Asher knew because he had met the Founders and their respective spouses. "Let's ask Rowena," he suggested quickly as he grabbed the book then placed a hand on Hermione's arm. A moment later, they were in the wise witch's office. "You don't have the tattoo on your back, do you?" Asher asked the question he should have asked before entering the office.

"What tattoo?" Rowena's voice asked.

Hermione thought of lying, but it would do no good. "I have the tattoo of the sword, the daggers and the flame."

Rowena looked confused at the description. She knew hundreds of tattoos that had the same features, but Asher knew which one Hermione was referring to. "She has the tattoo 'Aegis' on her back."

"Oh, that one. Of course I know. She is a descendant of mine," Rowena answered nonchalantly. Asher gave the Founder a sneer that Hermione could not see. She was still in shock from hearing the Founder confirm her lineage. "No one had 'Aegis' burn onto their back in the past century and no wizard has it in well over five, so it's not known very well. Recently there have been a few who has received 'Aegis'. It's impossible to remove, even if you burn it or try to cut it off, so I wouldn't try. It's best to keep it hidden, since it does carry some bad luck, but it is revealed, then I can easily convince Rufus to retract your expulsion."

Asher had no doubt the last statement was true, but he was more concerned about Hermione. She looked overly pale and about to feint. "Maybe that was too much information, Rowena." Then Hermione collapsed into Asher's arms, unconscious. "Yeah, it was too much."

"It's better to take it all at once. Gets things over with," the founder replied. "When did you get the branding on your back?"

Damn... Asher cursed to himself. There was nothing you could hide from Rowena. Not when she knows you have something hidden. "After I left. Got lost in the sixth century. Sold into slavery and rescued by Merlin. Fought a war and returned," Asher summed up the four years he was lost in time.

"You didn't tell her that Blaz, or rather you, had two daggers branded onto your back, did you?"

You really couldn't hide anything from the old witch. Asher did have the two daggers burned into his back after his first gladiator match. "I can't get anything past you, can I, Rave?" He asked calling Rowena by the nickname he made for her in their time together.

"If you did, you would be more clever than me," Rowena answered simply. "You should take her back to her room and let her rest. I know how you get when you're hungry. Be careful not to let anyone see you Planeswalk." Asher let a scowl before picking up the unconscious Hermione and disappearing from the room.

Asher had another ability that few wizards ever obtained. It was the ability to Planeswalk. It worked different from apparating where you envision your target destination and move your entire body there. Planeswalking allowed a person to move through great distances in a short amount of time. It also depended on which plane a Planeswalker had access to. For Asher, his plane was the plane of Shadows. So long there was a shadow, he could slip from one to the next without wasting a second of time. However, he had to be conscious to make his way through it. One misstep and he would be lost. It happened several times as he was learning to Planeswalk, but was fortunate enough that Salazar was a Planeswalker of the Shadows too.

It only took Asher a moment to arrive at Hermione's room where he laid her down onto her bed. Then he Planeswalked into the kitchen to grab a few plates of food and Planeswalk back. He left Hermione several plates of food next to her bed before covertly sneaking down the stairs to the common room.

Five minutes into his meal, Asher found himself bored out of his mind. He was never one to sit still for long periods of time alone. Asher did not want to leave Hermione alone just yet. There were still some explaining he had to do; so Asher made his way back up the stairs to her room. It was fairly annoying sneaking around without his invisibility cloak. He often wished he had not lost that in a bet to Rowena, but a bet's a bet and Asher lost fair and square. And no one ever cheated on a bet with the Founders. One punishment from them was enough to remember for a lifetime. Fortunately Asher was not as desperate as to pull something like that.

"Hey, Rave," Asher called out as he passed one of Rowena's portraits. It only took a moment for her to show up. Few knew that she had a portrait in the stairwell to the girls dormitory tower. "I was wondering if there's any way to get my cloak back."

"Planeswalking tiring you out?" Rowena asked. She looked at Asher who had been her apprentice for fifteen years. She trained him in intelligence, dueling with daggers, Occlumency, and various other non magical skills needed in the magical world were honed to near perfection. However, Asher still was nowhere near as cleaver as Rowena. Or Hermione.

"Yes it is. You know damn well what happens when I spend more than an hour in the Plane of Shadows," Asher replied with a shudder. During one of the few times he got lost while Planeswalking, Asher was ambushed by a hoard of Shadow Plane creatures, many of which he never knew existed. Luckily Salazar jumped in and pulled him out before any real damage was done.

"Actually I do remember it quite clearly. You had nightmares for weeks after than," Rowena chuckled. Her memory never dulled. "I will return it within the year."

Damn... Asher cursed to himself. That usually meant the end of the year unless Asher could win another bet. If he lost, it would be delayed another year. There was no other way around it. Asher had not the cleverness to beat Rowena in any field. Wining by technicalities did not count. "Okay," Asher reluctantly agreed.

"No retort? This is a new one."

"Would you let me win?" Asher said with high hopes.

"No," the founder shot down without wasting a second. Rowena knew full well to never underestimate Asher Prince, the person she name 'The Prince of Mischief'. Gordic and Salazar had found themselves at the receiving end of Asher's retaliation before.

Asher just lowered his head and walked up to the prefect bedroom where he found Hermione still asleep. He was glad Cho and her friends were all at supper in the Great Hall. It was hard to slip by their watchful eyes.

Hermione suddenly jerked up and found herself in her bed in the Ravenclaw tower. It took only a moment to remember why she had fainted and quickly turned to find Asher sitting next to her on her bed. She tried to say something, but the shock of her lineage still had not passed. "Just rest, Hermione," Asher said as he laid her back down. This had been one strange birthday. It all started when a tattoo burned onto her back in the morning. As things progressed, Hermione slowly found out that she is a descendant of one of the Founder's, Rowena Ravenclaw. But she was muggleborn. How was this possible?

Hundreds of questions raced through her mind, but when Hermione placed a hand onto the necklace that hung around her neck, she forgot them all. Now her thoughts were on Asher and his gift. This was the first birthday present she had received in a very long time. It was enough to make her like this day. All her life, or at least the years she could remember, Hermione hated her birthday because she had always spent it alone. Now someone was there to spend it with her.

"Almost forgot!" Asher said as he disappeared. When he returned, he had a small cake with him and fifteen lighted candles. "Make a wish," he said with a smug grin.

Hermione though hard on her wish. This was her first birthday wish and she wanted it to be one she would always remember. "You're not going to use Legilimens to figure it out, right?" she asked Asher as she sat up.

"No. We all have our secrets," Asher replied. Hermione trusted Asher to his word and made up her mind about her wish, and then blew the candles out. Asher had to use all his might to control the urge to not smash the cake into Hermione's face. This was probably her first birthday celebration so it would be best if Asher did not prank her. "Happy fifteenth birthday, Hermione!" he congratulated as he set the cake down before her.

Then Hermione turned her head to look at Asher with a confused look across her face and asked, "How did you know today was my fifteenth birthday?"

Asher let another smug grin grow across his face. Hermione's birthday was the same as Skylar's, only Hermione was born the year after. But Asher made a run to the records just to make sure. "I sneaked into the headmaster's office and took a peak at the records."

"Is there a place on Hogwarts you cannot sneak into?"

Asher had to think on the answer. He had been in a lot of placed around and inside of Hogwarts, but there were still some places he had not gone to. "Only the girl dormitories of Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff towers," Asher replied. He was only able to get into the Ravenclaw dormitory because of his bet with Rowena. The others never made the bet so the magical fields protecting the other towers in fear of facing Rowena's wrath.

"Do I even want to know how you can get in here?" Hermione asked, feeling she might regret the question later.

"No, not really. You might not believe the story," Asher replied truthfully.


	20. Chapter 20

Falco Malfoy sat in the Slytherin common room with a scowl on his face. The source of his problems was none other than Asher Prince, the newest member of the Ravenclaws. Rumors of his brilliance had spread through Hogwarts and Falco was loosing his status. He needed to find a way to show Asher Prince his place in Hogwarts. No one insulted Falco Malfoy without punishment. Yet, at every turn, Asher Prince had always been there to not only flaunt his over-sized ego but insult and humiliate Falco.

Today, Falco would make the hyperactive Ravenclaw pay for his mistakes. As to how, Falco still did not know. Just then, Buteo Hawkins and Ezio Smith walked in. The two were two men Falco entrusted most of his important tasks to. For now, the two were just coming in to escort Falco to the garden. Today he had called a meeting with Corvus Syndicate Falco formed secretly in his first year.

When he arrived in the garden, Falco found most of his member had already arrived and started small discussions. Falco allowed small talk before his arrival, so long as they did not make a decision. They were Slytherins after all. Only the most cunning and ambitious survive. As he sat himself down on the center bench like a throne, silence fell in the garden. Falco looked around and saw that the most important members were here, so he began, "What have you found out about Asher Prince?"

Several answers came, but no new information came out. Falco knew about Asher's adoption and sudden appearance into the wizarding world several weeks ago. The fifth year had surprisingly good command over spells despite being wandless and using muggle artifacts as well as high intellect and cleverness. Courage was not lacking either and rumors of his weapon dueling skills were also spreading about.

Suddenly, another member pushed a young girl to the ground before Falco and said, "I found this 'thing' snooping around outside."

Falco peered down and saw a bush of brown frizzy hair wearing the colors of Ravenclaw and carrying a stack of heavy books. "You know it's not nice eavesdropping on others, Mudblood," Falco sneered as he used his boot to lift her face up. "Take her out back and beat her," he commanded as his other foot shot out and dove into her abdomen. She hit the ground grasping her stomach and wheezing in pain. "On a second thought, beat her here. We'll show the Ravenclaw what it means to insult and humiliate the great Falco Malfoy."

A boot slammed the girls face to the ground and laughter filled the air, but suddenly, the back of a fist hit the cheek of the Slytherin standing on the girls head. He was thrown to the ground, spinning in rapid succession. The others that surrounded the girl hit the ground unconscious. "For a Slytherin, you do stoop pretty low," a voice spoke coldly.

Anger filled Falco as he saw Asher standing before the Mudblood, but then he had found the egoistic boy's weakness. With one hand, he signaled for his syndicate to attack as over forty wands raised up and spells shot out. Suddenly, the spells exploded and smoke screened the area. With a wave of his wand, Falco cleared the smoke to reveal Asher standing before the crying Hermione. He had not moved an inch while thousands of burnt pieces of playing cards lay in a circle around him.

"Hermione, don't move and inch," Asher said as he whipped out his steel cable. He could not use his daggers against other students, nor was this a proper duel. This was a brawl and the odds were 48:1. Asher smiled. He liked these odds. With one flick of his wrist, one end of the cable shot out disarming one Slytherin while knocking another off his feet.

Spells shot from all directions, but Asher whipped his cable around with skill and precision honed to near perfection by Rowena and his time spent as a Gladiator. Each spell was carefully dodged or deflected and each attack was countered with quick attacks. In five minutes, Asher had taken down roughly thirty Slytherins, but the brawl was getting tougher. He was able to disarm the remaining Slytherins from their wands, but Asher did not want to take any of them on in a fist fight. He turned back slightly to look at Hermione who was curled up in the ground next to him. She was in no condition to run away and Asher could not Planeswalk at the moment.

A red jet shout out towards Asher's chest, but because of his delayed reaction, Asher raised his left arm to block it. His arm fell limp to his side and Asher cursed his stupidity for letting Benicio borrow the gauntlets. "How long can you protect the, Mudblood, Asher Prince?" Falco sneered as he shot another spell from his wand.

Asher ducked under the spell, reached down with his right arm to pick up Hermione to run, but an arm grabbed him and tossed him into a nearby tree. Asher's back slammed against the trunk of the tree and he let out a cry of pain. He hit the ground just as hard, but quickly got up onto his feet again. Hermione was left out in the open! Asher leaped forward and pulled Hermione away just before one of the larger Slytherins stomped down with his foot. They rolled on the grass a few feet before Asher was able to stop, but another Slytherin slammed a wooden bat against the back of his head.

Pain exploded and his vision went blurry, but Asher's battle senses had not. He kicked up with his right foot catching the attacker on the chin and effectively knocking the older boy out. A punch followed quickly by a kick to his side threw Asher to the ground next to Hermione, but he lashed out with his cable wildly sending the attacker back. Asher, still unable to see, pulled Hermione close and used his body to shield any more physical attacks.

"You cannot fight while you are protecting that Mudblood!" he heard Falco laugh, but Asher did not care. He felt heavy pounding of boots onto his back as well as some punches, but Asher held firm to his position.

Suddenly, Asher heard a unified cry of, "Stupefy!" The pounding and stomping stopped and when Asher lifted his head, he saw Cho leading a group of fifty or so Ravenclaws. They all had their wands poised at Falco and his lackies.

Falco sheathed his wand and said, "You won't be this lucky next time, Asher. Protect that Mudblood well, if you can at all." Falco retreated with a laugh.

"Ennevrate," Cho said relieving Asher of his stunned arm. "You know it's pretty foolish to take on the Falco and his lackeys by yourself."

"I thought I did fairly well until the end," Asher replied with a chuckle. He tried to stand, but collapse over. His back and side were aching from the beating by Falco's lackeys at the end. "How's Hermione?"

"She has a mild concussion," Cho replied as Terry Boot and Michael Corner lifted Asher onto their shoulders. "Help him to the infirmary." Terry and Michael nodded as they helped the injured Asher out of the garden.

"What happened here?" the voice of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher asked. The man knelt down next to Hermione and checked her. Then, from under his cloak, pulled out a potion and poured it into her mouth. Cho had little time to respond before Hermione swallowed the potion. "How did Miss Granger end up with a light concussion?"

"Um... We're not sure," Cho replied.

"We came when we heard that Asher was defending Hermione against Falco and his lackeys," Kelly responded. For a moment, she thought she saw the professor smile.

"Take Hermione back to her room, Miss Chang," Franklin told the older Ravenclaw. "Is Asher heading towards the infirmary?"

Cho nodded as she lifted the smaller girl up from the ground with the help of Kelly. For the first time, Cho noticed how frail Hermione's body was. Hermione was far too light for he age and height. Cho knew Hermione was bony, but did not expect Hermione to be in condition. It made her wonder why and how this could have happened. Hermione never missed a meal, nor does she eat a small amount.

Cho turned back to the Dark Arts teacher and asked, "Um... Professor, I know this may not be your field, but do you happen to know why Hermione's body is in the condition it is now?"

Franklin looked from Cho to Kelly and back. It seems that his idiotic son was beginning to weave friendships for Hermione. The two girls genuinely looked worried. "The body reflects the mind as the mind reflects the body. A healthy body will nourish a healthy mind and vice versa. In Miss Granger's case, she has been suffering alone for a long time causing her mind to slowly deteriorate and it is reflected in her body." Franklin knew the two girls were clever enough to understand what needs to be done to help Hermione. They did not have to be Ravenclaws to know the answer, just caring human beings. He let the two girls carry Hermione away and stood in the garden looking over the events of the past few weeks.

What worried Franklin was not Hermione, since he knew Asher would one day heal her, but Falco Malfoy. Falco was like an older version of Draco in their old world, but far more powerful. Franklin watched the young man's every move carefully from the second day when Asher waved off Falco's hand. Benicio had told Franklin about the Corvus Syndicate that few people knew of. Benicio also told Franklin that most Slytherins aspired to join the Corvus Syndicate. Slytherins valued power beyond anything else and Falco offered power to those who could join. There was no opposing power to his Syndicate which Franklin found odd. Usually Gryffindors were the first the oppose Slytherins, but no one stood up.

Franklin was glad to hear that Draco and his four friends were not interested in joining the Syndicate. There was more hope for the Draco of this time than Benicio in his Hogwarts years. That was a fact that Franklin was proud of. He sent Benicio to Slytherin in high hope that Draco would not follow the same path as Benicio. On the other hand, Harry and his friends were at their worst. Franklin had difficulty controlling the quintet. They pulled pranks every chance they could in retaliation against Franklin, all of which he foiled without breaking a sweat.

It seemed that Rufus did not have the same control over Hogwarts Dumbledore had. Dumbledore knew all the events inside of Hogwarts and turned a blind eye towards the harmless ones and intervened if necessary. Rufus knew little of what went on in Hogwarts and only worried about the professors he hired. The old lion was more focused on keeping his position than running the school. Thus he let Hogwarts run wild; so wild that it stunned Franklin in his first few days. Especially with the dual quintets pranking every other student. They were the second generation of Marauders.

Franklin now had more tasks added to his list. Bring order back to Hogwarts would not be as easy as he previously thought. He often found himself wondering if it was possible to have order in Hogwarts.


	21. Chapter 21

Benicio found his brother in the infirmary lying in one of the beds. It was easy to see which bed Asher was in with a large crowd of Ravenclaws standing around him. However, healing Asher's bruises on his back would be difficult if Asher did not want people to see his branding. Benicio always wondered why Asher kept the branding. It was easy to remove with the spells they could command. Benicio put on Asher's gauntlets that he borrowed for today's dueling lesson and walked through the crowd.

Sometimes he wished Poppy was here, but Benicio rather not face the mediwitch. He had far too many meetings with Poppy during the time with the Founders. It was another thing Benicio never understood about the founders. They had brought Poppy back to their time intentionally to train her in healing, unlike all the Benicio, his father, brother and several other witches and wizards who showed up purely by accident.

Benicio could not deny the fact that Poppy kept order in the infirmary or that she was an extremely talented mediwitch. Usually only six visitors were allowed in at once, but roughly thirty Ravenclaws crowded around Asher. "Alright, everyone," he said with a loud and deep voice. He received some glares because of his Slytherin badge. "I'm Asher's brother, for those who don't know," he said defending his right to be there. "If you all could please leave the room while I heal my brother..." It took several minutes before Alyson and Katie Hall led the crowd out.

"You lost to a bunch of Slytherins?" were Benicio's first words when the door closed behind the crowd. He heard a grunt from Asher before turning around and raised his arms to begin the healing. It was far easier to weave magic with the gauntlets, but few of these gauntlets still remained in the world. Most were destroyed after the War of Constance, one that Benicio participated in.

It was the other war that took place in during the Crusades. The damn Christians and Catholics or whatever tried to wipe out wizards from the face of the earth. They had armies of hundreds of thousand soldiers all armed with the gauntlets. These were muggle creations made to allow the user to absorb magic spells to defend against witches and wizards. It was made so well that even the killing curse could be absorbed. But what the did not know was that the reverse was true. Because muggles had no magical abilities, none of them could use the gauntlets to weave magic, but any witch or wizard who could get their hands on one could.

Benicio fought in the last three years of the war and saw the conclusion. The wizarding world barely won the war which left the world shattered and broken. To rectify the damage, the surviving witches and wizards joined together to repair the wounded world and thus the Ministry of Magic was born. They ruled for the forever banning of the gauntlets and erased the war from the minds of the muggles and history itself. Never was such an event to be repeated.

When Asher's wounds were healed, Benicio took off the gauntlets and placed them next to his brother, returning them. "How many were there?"

"Forty or so."

"And you lost?"

"Well, sorry," Asher said with a somewhat apologetic tone. "I don't have your ungodly strength," he said as he sat up in his bed.

This was true. Benicio stood a full six inches taller than Asher with a well toned muscular body. Of course the two brothers knew that Benicio's actual body was far more muscular than he let on. Else he wouldn't be able to carry a 150lb sword with one hand and swing it with ease. However, Benicio did not like his full muscular form. It made him look like the Juggernaut from X-men. Plus that form was gained through magical means which meant his current form was his true form.

"Falco was up to something today," Asher said to Benicio as he hopped out of bed. He went on to do several short exercises to warm up his body again.

"I'll look into it, but I can't make any promises."

Benicio left the infirmary leaving Asher to deal with his fan club. But he knew Asher wanted to get away as quickly as possible to see Hermione. He wondered if Asher knew he was falling for Hermione. It was fairly apparent to Benicio and his father when Asher left the Three Broomsticks several times a week in the summer to meet the girl.

On his way back to the Great Hall, Benicio bumped into Draco standing alone at the end of the corridor. "Is she there?" the boy asked Benicio. His muscles were tense reflecting how he felt which was opposite to the nonchalant expression on Draco's face.

"Hermione?" Benicio asked his younger self which the boy nodded in response. "No, but my father gave her a potion to help heal her concussion. She's back up in the Ravenclaw tower." Benicio saw Draco's body relax upon hearing the news. Then it occurred to Benicio that although Draco outwardly showed malice towards Hermione, there was something else Draco hid. "What is your relation to Hermione Granger?" Benicio asked curiously before Draco could turn away.

"She's just a Mudblood," Draco responded automatically as he stalked away. But Benicio knew better. There was a secret past between Draco and Hermione that Draco was not willing to let out. Benicio would figure out sooner or later. He let it go and did not press the issue. It was never good to force a telling of someones past. Grudges were formed this way and Benicio did not need another grudge.

Instead of heading to the Great Hall as Benicio originally planned, he turned and made his way to the Gryffindor tower to speak to Skylar. He had not seen her this morning and decided to check up on her and the children.

Draco made his way back to his Slytherin quarters, but not before reaching into his pocket to pull out a picture of fourteen young children. Two boys stood in the center in a small skirmish. One had silver hair and silver eyes while the other had black hair and emerald green eyes. It was a picture of when Draco and Harry were young. Another girl stood next to them shouting at them. She had frizzy brown hair and deep brown eyes. It was Hermione. He often wondered if she retained any memories of their broken friendship.

The eleven other children in the picture were all gone. Everyone blamed Hermione for their deaths, even Harry and Draco. Thus the pranks. But two years ago, he had found out the truth of the deaths of his eleven other friends. It was when he and Harry played a prank that nearly killed Hermione by sending her into the Shrieking Shack. Neither had known at the time about the werewolf, but Hermione came out virtually unharmed. However, her mind was shattered and she began to recall the memories of her disappearance and their eleven other friends.

No bodies were found and the eleven were presumed dead, but after that day, Draco and Harry had a newfound faith that their friends were still alive. They continued their pranks hoping that one day they could get Hermione angry enough to reveal more of the memories. Neither had the courage to ask Hermione upfront.

Draco suddenly heard a voice beyond the corner of the next corridor and quickly pocketed the picture. As he had suspected, his older brother, Falco, walked out with several older Slytherins. In the midst was Pansy Parkinson who stuck to his brother like glue when she could. Draco once had a crush on the girl, but once she showed her true Slytherin face, Draco lost interest. He loathed the Slytherin way of life with a passion.

Salazar Slytherin was a man of cunning and great ambition, but he was honorable.

Trick your enemies and your foes to protect your friends and family. Be honest to your family unless they are your enemy and trick your friends only during harmless pastime jokes.

This was the code Draco Malfoy followed. One that made him an outcast of his family. And one that seperated him from the rest of the Slytherin house.

Loyalties lie with those with power. The ones with greatest loyalties has the greatest power.

Often times this time is misinterpreted as 'Follow the powerful', but Draco knew better. Salazar Slytherin enjoyed giving cryptic messages, and this was one of them. The bonds and loyalties of families and friends were far greater than that of master and servant. Draco only became friends with other Slytherins whom shared the same views as he did. And shared the same definition of loyalty.

Falco never glanced at Draco as he walked by. However, the others did. They batted him on the head and pushed him out of the way. As much as Draco wanted to fight back, he restrained himself.

There is a fine line between courage and foolishness. Know the line and you will forever win. But it is not to say that sometimes you cannot act foolish to protect those you hold dear.

Draco let them squash his pride. He lost little in that exchange. Pride was something people could lose, but gain back while friendships and family members were not. When Falco passed, Draco took out the picture in his pocket and stared down at it. This was all that was left of his better life. One day he will be able to get that life back. One day.


	22. Chapter 22

A blue fire burned. It was mage fire. One that could not be distinguished by water. Only magical means. The room was filled with dead bodies. Blood splattered across the walls and puddles grew on the ground. This was all too familiar. This dream, or rather nightmare. The fire roared louder, but that was the only sound you could hear. There was only one body that was not on the ground. One body hung in the middle of the room.

Then there was pain. Anguish. Anger. Love. Hatred. Sorrow. Loneliness. Emptiness. Darkness.

"Come with me," a cold voice spoke out. "Come and stand by my side, where you belong."

The voice belonged to a handsome man with deep red eyes. He had a smile across his face and the flames did not harm him. He reached out his right arm and leaned over. And then an arm reached out taking his hand. On the shoulder was the crest of Ravenclaw...

Skylar woke screaming and lashing her arms out. The nightmares were getting worse. It was the one that started after she retrieved Ravenclaw's mirror to destroy the last remaining Horcrux of Voldemort. It was one where Skylar was shrouded in darkness and her world was turned upside down. In the nightmare, Skylar was betrayed, took revenge and had become Voldemort's wife and bore him a son.

She had thought this part of her life was left behind. Ron had helped her through her nightmares. But now no one was there for her. She was alone once more. Or so she thought when the lights turned on and Benicio stood at the doorway. Skylar looked up and wanted to speak, but only tears and sobs came out.

Benicio walked over and pulled Skylar close and cradled her gently in his strong arms. "This isn't the first time you woke up screaming, you know," he said to her as he brushed her hair softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Skylar just shook her head and continued to sob in his arms. She wished her Ron was here. She wished her Ron had not died in the plague. She wished she could turn back time and fix everything. But something like that was not allowed.

Benicio just continued to hold Skylar until she was asleep again. He looked over to the doorway and found the children peaking in with worried eyes. All seven were awake. It was hard to sleep when they heard Skylar scream. Every night when they heard the screams, the children would get up from their beds and walk over only to be stopped by Benicio. He knew the children were worried, but Benicio also knew Skylar never wanted the children to see her in such a state. Unfortunately, they did.

Benicio did know what the nightmares were about. Ron often spoke of the nightmares to Benicio whenever he sneaked out during the night to catch a drink of firewhiskey with Benicio. This was before Benicio, Asher and Franklin fell through a time portal just as they were ambushed by renegade Death Eaters. When Benicio returned, Ron was on his deathbed due to a plague that infected witches and wizards all across the world. The only cure was to sacrifice a healthy life for a diseased one. And thus was how the Ron and the rest of the Weasley family perished. With the exception of Percy who died by the plague.

The children left shortly after Skylar fell asleep. But Benicio stayed. He loved Skylar from when she was still Hermione Jane Granger. But she was in love with Ron. Benicio felt bad that he was stealing her away from him now that he had passed away, but Ron had said he would not be angry if Benicio did. They both loved her and Ron made Benicio promise to take care of Skylar when he passed. Benicio would die if he could not keep his promise, but not because of an Unbreakable Vow, but because this was his life's goal. He could not continue to live if he failed. Benicio continued to cradle Skylar in his arms until he too fell asleep.

In the opposite tower, a young girl thrashed her arms violently destroying some of her possessions in the Ravenclaw Prefects bedroom of the girls dormitory. Then she hit the ground, tears pouring out and vomiting on the ground. This was her fourth vomit and it felt like there was nothing left in her stomach to throw out. Her chest stung and abdomen pulsed with pain. She was cold and shivering as she crawled to the corner of her room and curled up.

However, her mess did not say. Several words were spoken and the broken belongings and vomit were repaired and cleaned respectively. "Hermione," a soft voice spoke. Her vision was blurred by the tears, but she knew it was Asher kneeling before her. He said something else, but Hermione placed both hands over her ears. She coughed several times. It hurt, but not as much as it did when she sobbed.

Asher leaned closer and placed a hand on her elbow, but Hermione let out a cry and lashed out with both hands. If this was anyone else, Asher might not have let his guard down, but Hermione's arms hit Asher across the face knocking him backwards. Five light scratches burned across his left cheek. It stung, but Asher didn't notice. He had suffered worse injuries. He got up from the floor and tried to calm Hermione once more, but this time a foot smashed into his chest. Asher was ready, but did not know how much power she put into the kick.

It knocked the wind out of Asher, but he was not ready to give up just yet. Again he tried to calm Hermione down, but this time she lashed out with her wand and cried, "Sectumsempra!" Ah the memories of using that spell was still fresh in Asher's mind. In his sixth year at Hogwarts, he had used that same spell in desperation, much like Hermione, against his older brother. Luckily their father was there to reverse the curse, but Asher would not be as lucky.

With his quick reflexes, Asher brought up his arms with his gauntlets to guard himself from the spell. Unfortunately, he was not powerful enough to absorb such a powerful curse. Sure he could absorb Avada Kedavra, but only once without dispelling it. Else the gauntlets would break. With Sectumsempra, blades of wind slashed out at the opponent and each blade had power equivalent to one thirds the power of Avada Kedavra. Luckily there were only eight blades of wind. The two he could not absorb opened a gash in his upper right arm and across the right cheek.

Blood splattered out onto Hermione making her condition even worse. She screamed and kicked Asher as he was unable to stop the bleeding at the moment. So he did the first thing that came to mind. With his left hand, he conjured a fire and burned the wounds forcing them to close. This was more painful than getting cut by the spell. When the bleeding stopped and the wounds closed, Asher hit the ground and let out a silent scream before getting back up and pulling Hermione close.

He saw her nightmares. It was the same ones Skylar was having in the summer. But Asher had not peered into Hermione's mind. He was woken rather violently when Hermione had these nightmares, but this was after he gave her the necklace of Clarent. _Damn Merlin_, Asher cursed silently as he held the shivering Hermione close. The great wizard just passed Asher the necklaces without telling him about them. However, this was not the time Asher could go on cursing old men.

Hermione was still fighting, but she was beginning to calm down. Asher wiped away her tears from her cheeks and sweat from her forehead. For a good week now, Asher had been coming to Hermione's room to calm her down so she could sleep once more. On milder days, she would just swing wildly into the darkness. Some nights, like this one, her nightmares were so severe that she started destroying things and vomiting.

Asher held her close and began to sing her a soft lullaby. It was one his mother sang to him when he was a baby. This was also the lullabye Guinevere sang in commemoration of those who died in the Battle of Camlann. Asher did not know what the words meant, since they were in a language he had not learned. Either that or Merlin had not given him command of the language. It started off with a joyful tune, then it became one of sorrow before ending in a nostalgic tune.

Merlin had taught Asher the power of songs and various songs for story telling or battle, but it was this song that Asher found always calmed people. This was the lullaby he sang to Hermione. When the song ended, Hermione was asleep in his arms. Asher tried to lift Hermione back to her bed, but he had lost too much blood earlier. His right arm was weakened and trembling in pain. Too tired to make the effort at the moment, Asher leaned back against the wall and let Hermione sleep against him.

_One day I will relieve her of this nightmare_, Asher promised to himself. _One day I will heal her heart, her mind and her soul. _With a wave of his hand, Asher was able to bring over a blanket to wrap around Hermione and himself. The night was a cold one and unlike the nights before, Asher had not tucked Hermione back into her bed. It was only moments later that Asher succumbed to sleep.

Hermione woke to the pounding of her door and the sound of Cho's voice on the other side. She got up from the ground where she was curled up in her blanket. _I must have had another nightmare_... Hermione thought to herself as she stood up. And then she remembered crying and thrashing and vomiting, which made her feel woozy; but when she looked around, her room was the way she had left it the night before, besides a messy bed and being curled up in her blanket on the ground. Then Hermione remembered a pair of warm arms surrounding her and someone singing to her a gentle lullaby.


	23. Chapter 23

Sirius Black walked through the halls of Hogwarts whistling a happy tune. He had just gone to the Shrieking Shack and moved his old friend Remus to a house in a nearby muggle town Sirius owned. No one would look there for his old friend. Not even the Ministry. However, it was hard not to spill this secret to Lily Evans, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew or his own wife and two daughters. Secrets were hard to keep, but Sirius Black was one of the best secret keepers in the world.

As he walked passed the garden, Sirius saw Lily and Harry walking together chatting. He still had no idea how Severus, or rather Franklin, got the two talking so easily. One day they were put together because of detention, the next they were talking like any other mother and son. Sirius did not know how many times he thanked Franklin, but he knew it would never be enough.

And then he though it would be nice to have the old Marauders together again. Of course Severus would be replaced by Franklin, but still. It has been a long time since the five friends were broken apart by the death of Severus. Remus was locked away in his werewolf form by who knows what means. James continued as an Auror while Peter worked for the Minister. Sirius had returned to Hogwarts to take up a newly created position of Dueling master in which he taught students to duel in a somewhat safe environment.

This morning Sirius had his newly appointed apprentice duel with some of the students. The man had brought in a pair of fairly interesting gauntlets. Benicio Black, who states he is a relative of Sirius, said it was a muggle artifact that allowed his younger brother to use magic. It was possible for other wizards to use as well, but Sirius liked using his wand better. Even Benicio preferred a wand, but his wand was destroyed.

After passing a few more corridors, Sirius ran into Franklin. It seemed the man was waiting for Sirius to arrive. "Is it safe?" Franklin asked as he joined the Dueling Master down the corridor to the Great Hall.

"For now. How are things progressing?" Sirius replied. It was obvious to anyone listening that the two were hiding something, but they doubted anyone would figure out what. They were able to capture a fugitive werewolf to replace Remus's place in the Shrieking Shack.

"A work in progress." Sirius nodded understanding Franklin's statement. It was not easy to remove a Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster, especially when there were only two professors were on their side. And they were standing right there. They needed more. Lily would not agree to their plan, unless they had an stronger argument besides not liking the old lion. Umbridge is the Deputy Headmaster which meant there was no talking to her. Wilhelmina and Pomona would probably take their side. Umbridge had not been kind towards them.

Professors Flitwick and Vector seemed more likely to stay neutral while Professors Hooch and Sinistra stood with Rufus. This meant that Sirius and Franklin were at a disadvantage. Moody and Slughorn would become great assets to their cause if they can bring them to their side. Hagrid would probably join in if they could find the half-giant. Neither wanted search the Forbidden Forest just yet.

"I will have my younger son do some work later." The two men entered the Great Hall, but not before a giant carriage led by eighteen Abraxans. The beautiful flying horses let out a cry as they pass the Great Hall and all the students ran to the windows to catch a glimpse of its fiery eyes. Franklin had seen it once before in his world. It was when they revived the ancient competition only to have Voldemort intervene and in the progress, revive himself to power and kill Cedric Diggory.

As for Sirius, he had seen the horses once when it was held twenty years ago. Their magnificence never faded from his eyes. Then from the lake, a giant ship crashed through the surface. Sails were raised and a unified voice sang out. Beaxbaton and Durmstrang had arrived. The Triwizard Tournament was here. And so was Moody and Slughorn. Neither had missed a tournament since they saw it the first time in their years at Hogwarts and neither would ever miss one as long as they lived.

They both preferred the Triwizard Tournament over Quidditch, mainly because Moody and Slughorn loved they display of skills in the Tournament. Quidditch was just flying on a broomsticks. But before either arrived, the doors to the Great Hall opened and in came several faces that made both Franklin and Sirius scowl. Cornelius Fudge walked through the door followed closely by Bartemius Crouch Senior and Percy Weasley. Some people never change.

Franklin leaned over and asked, "Is Barty Crouch Junior still alive?" Franklin remembered quite vividly in the last Triwizard Tournament he participated in that Barty Crouch Junior attacked Mad Eye Moody and replaced him with polyjuice potion. That nearly cost Asher his life, but Cedric Diggory lost his.

"Yes he is," Sirius whispered back. And not forgetting that Franklin was from another world, he added, "Barty Crouch is the current Head of the Ministry's Auror Division."

This information shocked Franklin. He knew Barty Crouch Junior was a Death Eater and there was a high chance it was the same in this world. "And what of Frank and Alice Longbottom?" he asked in quick succession only to realize that unlike his world, Voldemort had not attacked James and Lily to kill Harry. It was that event that destroyed Voldemort that led to the torture of the Longbottoms.

"They are alive and well. Or so I've been told. No one has seen them since five years after _his_ death. Not even their son Neville or daughters Kim and Christina. They live with their grandmother. Every month, the children do get letters from Frank and Alice."

This information sounded suspicious. Franklin would have to have Asher verify that the Longbottoms were still alive. "After _his_ death, were there arrests?"

"Some, but not a lot," Sirius answered but they stopped their conversation short to greet the Minister of Magic, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and his brown nosing assistant. Now the students and other adults were too close to have a private conversation.

"Good day, Minister," Rufus greeted uncomfortably while Umbridge beamed herself, ready to show the minister her achievements. It seems Hogwarts was under the control of the Ministry. That was another task Franklin added to his list of things to rectify. That list was getting fairly long.

As Franklin watched the interactions between the Headmaster, Deputy Headmaster and the men from the Ministry, he began to wonder why Bartemius had not become Minister of Magic. He was favored as the next Minister until he sent his son to Azkaban. And then he began to see why. Fudge's every move seemed out of place, almost as if he was following a set of guidelines on how to answer questions as they came. Franklin, being the expert politician he is, saw through this disguise. It was not Fudge who was truly working as Minister, but Crouch.

Crouch hardly spoke a word, but Franklin noticed the man smile whenever Rufus scowled and wince whenever Fudge grimaced. Fudge may have won the seat of Minister of Magic, but the weak willed man hardly had the talent to run it. This was also the perfect play. With Fudge as his subordinate, Crouch could run things the way he wanted and not worry about the consequences as they would fall on Fudge. There would also come a day where Fudge would lose his popularity and it would be the precise moment Crouch took his stand.

Salazar Slytherin was not Franklin's teacher in politics for nothing. It always made Franklin wonder if the founders somehow knew of their involvement with this current world. Asher was trained in intelligence gathering, Benicio was trained as a war general standing out in the front lines, and Franklin was trained as a politician who worked in the background. If these skills were placed together on one side, it would immediately tip the balance. But right now this world was not in the middle of war. It was at peace with Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard of this century, dead.

Franklin quickly tapped his foot loudly on the ground before walking away. Sirius immediately knew Franklin wanted to speak to Sirius in his office. However, to make it not look so suspicious, Sirius walked over and greeted the Minister and chatted about who would become the champion until Madam Maxine and Igor Karkaroff walked into the Great Hall. As for their students, Sirius knew they were settling into the two new dormitories Rufus magically connected to Hogwarts.

When a conversation struck up between the Heads of the three wizarding schools in Europe and the Ministry's representatives, Sirius slipped away. When he arrived at Franklin's office, he found the man shuffling through his papers. Most of them were old editions of the Daily Prophet, but a few were a stack of notes. "Something does not add up," Franklin said as he found the sheet of paper he was looking for. On it was a list of names. "How many of them are in Azkaban?" he asked handing Sirius the three foot parchment.

Sirius studied the list. There were maybe forty names he recognized, but hundreds he did not. Some of them, like Antonio Dolohov and Augustus Rookwood, were locked up in Azkaban, but majority of the names were not. "Maybe ten, at most," Sirius replied returning the parchment to Franklin. "Why do you ask?"

"This is the list of Death Eaters from my world. I have little doubt in my mind that these people on this list are Death Eaters in this world," Franklin explained as he sat down into his wooden armchair. "Where are these people now?"

Sirius had to think for a moment before replying. The initial shock of how many Death Eaters still remained was great, but not as shocking as the answer he would give Franklin. "Most of the names I recognize on the list are in the Ministry. Malfoy. Nott. Avery. Gibbon. And forty or so other names."

The answer made Franklin wonder if this world was truly at peace. Did the war end fifteen years ago? Or was the peace just a facade? Was the war between Light and Dark still being waged? If so, whose side was Hogwarts on? These questions just made Franklin doubt his own plans. "The removal of Rufus will have to be delayed," Franklin said to Sirius as he made up his mind of what to do. "This may be an unreasonable request, but I need to have Remus search for anyone that is on this list, but not at the Ministry as soon as he can."

"Are things that bad?" Sirius asked. Franklin only nodded in response. This made Sirius wonder what was in the man's mind. Sure he had been friends with Severus Snape, but no one ever knew what was on his mind. Severus was the only man in the world who could keep secrets better than Sirius and the other Marauders.


	24. Chapter 24

Hermione was walking to the Great Hall from her dueling class. Today she watched Asher's older brother practice with five students at once with Asher's gauntlets. It was a powerful artifact, but had a major weakness. If the gauntlets absorb more magic than it is capable of, it will shatter. That was one problem Benicio did not have to face, as he was agile enough to dodge half of the spell thrown at him while absorbing just enough spells to return fire.

Hermione had tried to search for records of the use of these artifacts, but none were found. It almost seemed like these artifacts were erased from history. As she made her way down the corridor, the fiery eyes of Abraxans flashed by and all the other students ran over to the window to look. But before she could move, a group of tall cloaked figures swept by. The last moment she remembered was falling to the ground and loosing consciousness.

Asher walked through the halls searching for Hermione. This morning he had ran out of her room before he could put her back into bed because Cho had come knocking asking if anything was wrong. He Planeswalked back into his room and collapse into his bed falling asleep almost instantly. Asher had not known how tired he was and missed his morning classes. At least it gave him enough time to cover up the burn on his right cheek. He left the burn on his arm alone and just covered it with his sleeve.

When Asher could not find Hermione in her usual places, he entered the Plane of Shadows to search for her. Because of the difficulty of using the Plane to search, Asher exited the plane after five minutes. Hermione was not in her room and Cho and her friends had not seen her since this morning. Asher was now beginning to worry. The last words that came out of Falco's mouth a couple weeks back were replaying in his mind.

He walked past the new arrivals from Beaxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute ignoring them completely. They were too busy chatting with each other and the students of Hogwarts to notice. When Asher entered the Great Hall, he scanned the Slytherin table. As he suspected, Falco and some of the highest members of his group were missing. Asher stormed out of the Great Hall and headed directly to his adoptive father's office.

It only took a moment to Planeswalk directly into the office when Asher was out of sight. When he appeared in his father's office, he found Sirius and Franklin discussing a plan, but Asher had another issue on his mind. "I need the maps," he said quickly as Asher slapped both hands down on the table.

Franklin did not need to ask, for the serious in his sons face was all he needed to confirm that this was not for another prank. From one of the drawers, he pulled out a stack of folded maps. Asher quickly shuffled through them and found the one he was looking for. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said as he touched his gauntlet onto the map.

Sirius quickly pulled out a folded map of his own from his cloak and matched it to the map in Asher's hands. Indeed it was the same Marauder's Map he had created with his friends in their years at Hogwarts, but one name was missing.

Asher skimmed through the entire map quickly searching for Hermione's name, but he could not find it. "Was Hermione in class today?" Asher asked Sirius quickly who responded with a nod. So Asher rescanned the map focusing on areas accessible from the Dueling classroom to the Great Hall. One place stood out above all the other secret rooms in the area. The Room of Requirement. "Mischief managed," Asher said as he put the map down once more and dashed out of the office.

"An original from my world," Franklin said, answering Sirius's unasked question. They then proceeded to plan out their next movements and tasks.

As Asher moved through the Plane of Shadows, he suddenly felt his vision blur. Instead of seeing the distorted world of shadows, flashes of a familiar room and cloaked figures with the Slytherin badge appeared. This confirmed his suspicion of Falco's involvement in the disappearance of Hermione. However, Asher had a feeling he was watching through Hermione's eyes as he fell out of the Plane. He crashed to the ground and felt his palm burn. It was dangerous to stay in the Plane of Shadows if one could not see. The various creatures that lurked in that Plane often took advantage of those situations.

Asher pushed himself off the ground, ignoring the pain and ran as fast as he could to the Room of Requirement. His vision was still blurry, but well enough so that Asher could make out the corners and steps. When he reached the door to the Room of Requirement, Asher realized he had no idea how to get in. Sure it was as simple as thinking of what type of room you want and walking through the doorway three times, but there was no way of knowing what kind of room Falco wanted.

The Room of Requirement was also one of the few rooms where Planeswalking could not bypass. All that Asher could get to was an empty room. He tried quite a few times in his time with the Founders, but with no success. Suddenly, Asher clutched his chest and hit the ground. It was not in pain, but the inability to breath. Hermione had screamed. Visions pummeled into Asher's mind as he struggled to breath. Once more Falco and his men were beating Hermione. This time Asher could do nothing to stop them.

No. There was a way. One that Salazar told him never to use. Asher unsheathed one of his blades and slashed across his arm. He let it drip to the ground before using it to sketch a circle and four runes. Then he spoke out, "I, Asher Prince, summon thee, Magus of the Shadows, and by my blood that I willingly offer, bring thee to the world of the living!"

His blood turned black and swirled up into the air around him. Soon, the bleeding from his arm stopped and a cloaked figure floated before Asher. "Thy art either brave or foolish to summon me. Why haveth thee summoned me, Magus of the Shadows?"

Asher stared into the darkness under the hood and presumably into Magus's eyes. He felt a wave of magic brush past him, but had no effect. Asher had little fears in the world. Even Boggarts would have trouble identifying them. The fear inducing stare had no effect on Asher. "I need your help, mighty wizard of the Shadows. Behind this magical door lies a friend in need of my help."

Magus stared interestingly at the boy. Few summoned him from the Plane of the Shadows where he resided, and none before the boy had summoned him for help. Every wizard summoned him for his power only to be killed by Magus in return. The boy showed respect to Magus, but it was understandable that the boy did not bow. Few the boy's age had the ability to summon someone as powerful as himself into the Plane of the Living. "And what would thy sacrifice?"

"I have nothing I can give," Asher replied.

An honest answer. Magus valued honesty. The boy could not give his life, for if he did, he could not save his friend. Nor could he give his magic, for he had none of his own. However, there was something that the boy could give. Something the boy probably did not know of. "Give me a feather from each of your gauntlets." Asher looked back at the wizard of the Shadows not understanding the request. "I will take it from you, if you give it willingly."

Asher just nodded and raised his gauntlets to Magus. Then he heard the wizard speak an incantation in a language Asher did not understand, but knew as ancient Elven. Suddenly, two wings sprouted from his gauntlets. The one on his left was white while the one of his right was black. From each wing, Magus plucked a feather and with a wave of his hand, the wings returned into the gauntlets.

Then, Magus turned to the door that led to the Room of Requirement and place a hand on it. The door began to distort and the wizard of the Shadows said, "Once thy pass through this door, this portal will close behind thee. Be careful, Asher Prince. Thine enemies await for thy arrival. I bid thee good luck for I do wish to meet thee once more." The wizard disappeared leaving a distorted doorway.

Asher knew that distortion connected him to the room Hermione was in. Without a second thought, Asher leaped in with his daggers drawn. When he entered, several members ambushed Asher only to find themselves knocked by Asher's blows that launched at inhuman speeds. But before Asher could throw another set of attacks, he saw a flash of steel against a young girls throat. Just as he let down his guard, Asher felt two short dagger blades enter his lower back. He hit the ground coughing blood and felt a poison run through his body.

Hermione was fighting to break free, but the cold blade pressed against her neck. She watched as they pulled Asher from the ground. Blood dripped from his lips and he was barely fighting back. She wanted to run over and help Asher, but magical binds held her arms and legs. Hermione tried to turn away as each Slytherin had their chance in beating Asher, but Falco grabbed her hair and turned her to face Asher. With each blow, more blood splattered on the ground, but Asher fought to remain conscious. A low growl behind her ear told Hermione that Falco was angered by Asher's stubbornness.

Falco wanted Asher to scream in pain, beg for mercy and feel despair, but only received a cold hard glare in return. Asher never let out a cry. This angered Falco and he decided it would be best if they erased this boy from the world of wizardry. "Kill him," Falco ordered. His men were almost too happy when they heard his command, but Falco never gave a thought about the girl he pressed his dagger to.

Hermione felt her heart sink and stomach churn. She was about to lose the only friend she had in this world. Then something inside her snapped. Her wand snapped up from the ground into her hand and the magical binding broke. Power burst from her body like never before shattering the blade against her neck and a flame erupted burning Falco's face while sending him flying backwards to the other end of the room.

Two of the members immediately shot disarming charms at Hermione, but it was just engulfed by the flame that wrapped around her. She lifted her wand and started an incantation, but suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around her bringing her out of her anger. "Stop, Hermione," a weak voice pleaded. "Stop..."

"Crucio!" several voices cried out and together she fell with Asher to the ground. She screamed, writhing in pain on the ground while Asher fought the pain. They had no idea of how long they were under the curse. When it ended, Hermione was dragged up off her feet.

A blade slashed open a long gash along her left arm, but she was already numb from the previous torture. "Insolent Mudblood bitch!" she barely recognized as Falco's voice. "Enevrate!" The numbness was gone and the pain returned. "Do what you want with her," Falco said as he waved his hand and turned to walk over to Asher. "I hope you enjoy this show. It will be your last," Falco spat as he pulled Asher by the hair to face him in the direction of Hermione.

Hermione screamed and fought as they tore away her clothes. It did not take a genius to understand what Falco wanted his lackeys to do to her. With every kick and punch she landed, a slap was returned. Falco amused himself as he finally saw desperation in Asher's eyes.

Blaz, why are you on the ground?

I fell into a trap.

Get up.

I can't.

Get up!

I'm trying.

Do you want to protect her?

Yes.

Then get up!

Asher found the grip of one of his daggers, slashed above his head and cut the hair that Falco was holding. He then rolled away and got up onto his feet, but several stunners smashed squarely into his chest. His back slammed into the wall as he slid down to the ground. Another spell was woven and his consciousness returned. But this time he was frozen and forced to watch as they beat the near naked Hermione. Bruises covered her thin and frail body as a large gash on her left arm bled.

Do you need power, Blaz?

Do you need my power and my aid, Blaz?

Yes.

Then summon me.

How?

Call me by my name.

How? Excalibur's not your true name.

You know my name.

No I don't.

Mordred told you.

Mordred?

Yes. Before he died he told you my name. Call me by my true name, Blaz, and summon me to your aid!

"By the pact forged between Excalibur and I," Asher whispered, breaking through the magical binding. "I call upon Justus Kael to my aid!"

In the center of the room, a bright light exploded blinding and freezing everyone. "You have done well, Blaz," an unrecognized voice spoke out in Latin. "I will help you once more."

The light began to diminish, but Falco still could not see. Nor could anyone else. Something hard hit his right jaw knocking him out before he could let out a cry of pain. Other screams followed until the light faded completely.

When the light was gone, Hermione saw all the Slytherins on the ground out cold. She quickly ran towards Asher and pulled him close. "I'm sorry!" she cried. Tears burned down her face as she held Asher in her arms. She had forgotten about the large gash on her left arm and the fact that most of her clothes were torn off except for her underpants. However, she didn't care. Hermione just wanted Asher to regain consciousness. Then she heard Asher whisper something. She quickly pulled a cloak over her body and her face burned with embarrassment.

"Quickly, lass, get him out of here before they wake," a voice spoke out. It was a similar voice to the one that spoke earlier, however Hermione did understand the earlier message.

However, when Hermione saw some of the Slytherins twitch, she pulled Asher up from the ground and carried him on her shoulder out of the room. Asher was light for someone his size, but Hermione had trouble moving him. And then she thought of her wand. With a swift motion, Hermione waved her wand and Asher lifted an inch off the ground making the older boy lighter so Hermione could carry him. She ran down the stairs as quickly as possible with Asher on her shoulders.

Just as she reached the last flight of stairs before reaching the first floor, Hermione heard the screams of Falco and his minions above. Hermione dashed to the hallway and tried to make it to the infirmary as fast as her legs could carry. With her right arm, Hermione pulled Asher close as he hung on her right shoulder. With her left, she pulled the cloak close to cover her exposed body. Blood dripped with each step and the pain throbbed, but Hermione pushed through.

Asher had come to her rescue so many times and each time getting himself hurt in the progress. Now Hermione was given the chance to pay Asher back for his kindness and she was determined not to fail. Suddenly, she saw ten figures up ahead. Of all the times to meet up with the two troublemaking quintets, she had to meet up with them now. Hermione just lowered her head and charged through cutting between Harry and Draco as they were arguing about something. Neither group had did anything, which she was gracious of, but before she reached the end of the corridor, a group of Slytherins walked up blocking her path.


	25. Chapter 25

Harry had been arguing with Draco, his long time rival, about who would become the Triwizard Champion when a blur of brown messy hair tore through the area between his friends and Draco. They all turned to see Hermione running down the corridor with someone levitating on her shoulder. It only took a moment to recognize the person as Asher Prince, but blood was dripping from wounds on his back. "I thought you said no one knows about this corridor, Potter!" Draco spat in a low whisper as he backed away and placed a Disillusion charm around himself. His friends as well as Harry and his friends did the same.

"No one uses it!" Harry returned, but his attention was diverted when he heard a wail to his right. He turned and saw several Slytherins blocking the end of the corridor. Harry turned and saw Falco running down the other end. "I don't like you, Asher or your brother, but Hermione's in a pitch!"

"Ditto," Draco said in short agreement. Draco tapped Crabbe and Goyle and gave them instructions to stall his older brother. He then instructed Blaise and Theodore to get help as fast as possible. Then he pulled out a small gimmick from his pocket and tossed it before Hermione. It exploded and a black cloud filled the area.

To his side, Draco heard Harry scream, "RUN!" They both hoped that Hermione had not tried to dash through the blockade. Then spells shot through in random directions. Harry and Draco hid behind the vases and turned to see Falco and watched as a bombardment of spells hit them from the side before another black cloud erupted.

They turn away to see Hermione running away in another direction while holding back their laughter. Inside, they sighed in relief when no one was following her. However, red jets fired in their direction. The problem with Disillusion Charms is that the shadow still remained. Draco turned and fired several spells at his older brother. None hit it's intended target, but Draco was satisfied when two of of his stunners hit two of his brother's lackeys.

Suddenly, he felt a shove to the side and a voice say, "Get out of here before he knows!" It was Harry. Although rivals, they were friends. Draco wanted to stay and help Harry, but if Falco found out his involvement in this event, he wouldn't hear the end of it from his father.

At the first chance he got, Draco ran over to Crabbe and Goyle who were hiding behind some of the brick pillars to avoid getting hit. He tapped them on the shoulder and quickly instructed them to flee. Draco took one glance back at his friend before turning and running down a secret escape route.

Harry fought his best as he ran for cover. Ron and Neville were hit and sprawled out on the grass. Dean and Seamus were still in the fight, but they were loosing. Suddenly, a deep voice shouted, "Reducto!" and blasted away a peace of the wall freezing everyone in their steps, Slytherin and Gryffindor alike. "What's going on here?" Harry turned to see a young man with a shaved head. He immediately recognized him as Durmstrang's Victor Krum. The Slytherins who had blocked Hermione's path now lay unconscious on the ground.

Falco held his mouth, not wanting to say that they were trying to trap an injured girl and boy from Ravenclaw. Behind Victor stood several of his friends as well as students from Hogwarts and Beaxbaton. "I asked, what's going on here?" Victor said once more, this time more forcefully.

Harry quickly canceled his Disillusion Charm and spoke out, "I was just minding my own business walking down this hall with my friends when a girl and guy my year ran by. Then these Slytherins started firing spells at us so we fought back in defense."

"That's a lie!" Falco spat. "I was coming down this corridor to meet with my friends, who you have graciously knocked out, and this half-blood and his bloodtraitor friends ambushed us!"

"Why do I find that hard to believe?" a new voice spoke out. This time Franklin Prince walked in. Harry let out a scowl and Falco glared. Falco was use to professors taking his side, never against him. "If you look carefully at the ground, there's is a trail of blood from the steps to the end of this corridor and turns East. Now, from the looks of things, it seems you were chasing someone and your unconscious friends blocked the path. Harry and his friends just had the misfortune of being stuck in the crossfire."

"Listen to me--" Falco began as he stalked forward and began to lift his wand, but Victor and every student behind him lifted their wands up at once.

"There will be a further investigation on this matter, to prove who's story is true. But you must excuse me for I believe there is at least one injured student running about the corridors." Franklin disappeared down the halls following the blood.

"What's going on here?" another voice spoke out. Rufus and Dolores walked into the hallway and found wands poised at Falco and his friends. "Put down your wands," the headmaster ordered. "You may leave, Falco. And take your friends. Harry, you and your friends are to serve a weeks worth of detention with Professor Umbridge." The headmaster did not even ask for an explanation before stalking away.

Victor lowered his wand along with the rest of the students behind him. As he wondered why the headmaster made such a decision, most of the Hogwarts students dispersed. He stopped Harry as Harry made his way out and asked, "Why didn't you protest?"

Harry just grunted and responded, "The old lion's on Falco's side. Nothing we say would change his mind."

"How about the other professor?" Victor asked as he walked with Harry towards the woke Ron up.

"Professor Prince? That man's new here, but sooner or later he'll take Rufus's side," Harry replied as he sat Ron up.

"Blimley!" Ron screamed as he saw Victor standing next to him. "You're Victor Krum!"

"Yes," Victor said as he turned to face Ron. "Yes I am."

"Ronald Weasley. Nice to meet you!" Ron said as he sat up and held out a hand to shake. Victor took it and Ron continued to introduce the others, "This is my best mate, Harry Potter." The conversation continued as they walked to the Great Hall and for the first time Harry found himself followed by a large group of girls. He let out a low sigh. Harry had wanted to pull a prank on someone, but Ron, Dean and Seamus was too busy talking with their new friend. Then he wondered how Hermione was doing.

Draco split from his group as soon as he could and made his way to the infirmary. Poppy wasn't going to be back until two months later, so Draco wanted to check if someone was there to treat any injuries she might have. Draco found Hermione running towards the open infirmary doors with Asher over her right shoulder. The wounds on his back look like wounds inflicted by the daggers Falco's senior members wore. Falco was especially cruel to Muggleborns, but even worse to those who defied him.

Draco's eyes shifted from Asher to Hermione's left arm. It was covered in blood and on closer inspection, he saw a gaping wound that stretched across her forearm. Anger filled his heart as he watched the wounded Hermione walk into the infirmary. Draco felt even worse for treating her so badly over the years. Although most pranks were harmless, but somehow her possessions were always destroyed. Especially her books. Draco had no hand in this. He knew how much she cherished books since they were young. He wondered if it was Harry's doing.

"How is she?" a voice spoke. Sometimes Harry just had the greatest timing in the world.

"Worse than we thought," Draco replied. "She has a gash on her forearm. It might be worse. Her arm was throbbing. She was having trouble walking too. I doubt my brother and his friends didn't beat her."

For a moment, the let silence fall. "You know, I've been thinking," Harry said, breaking the silence, "I think we should stop pranking her."

"I agree," Draco returned. They hardly ever agree on anything, but there was always exceptions. "Do you ever destroy her books?"

"NO! Why would I do that?" Harry cried out in disgust. "I always thought it was someone within your group."

"Crabbe did it once," Draco admitted. "But I nearly beat him to death after I found out. I don't think anyone has did it since."

"Then who has? Ron might, but I've never seen him do it. He doesn't like her too much because of first year," Harry told Draco. The two had been friends as long as they could remember, but acted as enemies because of the houses they were sorted. And the fact that they were also rivals for popularity. Draco was also not allowed to be friends with Harry, but he did so secretly. He was trained in Occlumency by Harry's father so they could remain friends. "Is you dad coming today?"

"He's already here. I've avoided him all day, but I doubt that will last much longer. He is a damn Slytherin. What happened after I left?" Draco asked, trying to change the subject. However, he was still worried about Hermione. She looked fairly sick before she walked in. He wished he could walk into the infirmary to help her, but Draco had done Hermione wrong too many times for her to forgive him.

"Prince came and assessed the situation correctly. He left right after. I think he might have known Asher was involved. They are father and son after all. Old man Rufus came in with Flubber, let Falco go and gave me detention. Oh, Victor came to our aid. Blasted the Slytherins away."

Draco chuckled. They had nicknamed Umbridge Flubber because of her short and fat stature. No one really like the woman. Detentions with the old hag was worse. Draco had the worst possible detention experience with the ungrateful woman. She had a quill that takes your blood as ink and leaves a nasty scar on the back of your hand. Draco suspected that Harry suffered even worse punishments by the woman. Umbridge often gave Harry punishment for the suspicion of him pulling all the pranks. But half of it was Draco.

But it only took a few moments before his thoughts were back on Hermione. He often wished his parents would just adopt her, but being muggleborn, it was impossible. Draco's family was entirely purebloods. His mother was from the Black family and his father was a descendant of the Malfoys. He was glad to have Sirius Black as a relative. Maybe Sirius could bring her into the family...


	26. Chapter 26

Hermione staggered into the infirmary tired and aching. She was barely able to stand because of all the blood she lost. Thankfully Harry and Draco hated Falco more to stop his advance. Else she wouldn't have known what to do. "Help," she tried to cry out, but her strength was waning quickly. Hermione got one more step before collapsing into a pair of open arms.

"So this was why my vacation was cut short," a welcomed voice spoke out. Hermione looked up and found the smiling but worried face of Poppy Pomfrey. "Let me help you," Poppy said and with a wave of her wand, Hermione was in a bed as well as Asher. "Oh, don't worry about him. He's been through worse." Hermione tried to speak, but she was beginning to lose consciousness.

When she woke, she found her wounds mended and bruises gone. Hermione's body was not aching anymore, nor was it sore. She sat up in her bed and looked over at Asher who was on his back. There was also a burn on his right cheek and along his upper right arm.

His shirt was off and she could see his wounds starting to mend. However, what caught Hermione's attention was the scars on his back. She slowly climbed out of bed and walked over. The scar looked crudely done, but familiar. There was something that looked like a sword down the middle and two blades to the side. "Aegis..." she whispered as Hermione placed a hand on the back of her neck.

This was a similar branding to the one Hermione found in Rowena's tattoo book. This was said to be the origins of her own tattoo. Hermione ran her hands down Asher's back when a voice said, "That is the branding in which your tattoo originates from." Hermione jolted her head around and found Poppy standing there with a smile.

"But- how--" Hermione stammered, unable to get over the shock of Poppy knowing about her tattoo.

Poppy just walked over and looked at Asher's back. "Asher has far too many secrets, but there are many he wishes to share with you. Most importantly, Asher's a time traveler. Or was. Don't worry, dear, I'm pretty sure Asher's here to stay as is his family."

"How do you know this?" Hermione managed to ask, although still skeptical.

Poppy just smiled and responded, "How else?"

"You're a time traveler too?"

"I met Asher and his family when they were with the Founders. Asher was Rowena's disciple. She was the only who could keep Asher under control."

"So that's why he was sorted to Ravenclaw," Hermione thought out loud. "Why did he lie?"

"Always the cynic, aren't you, Hermione. Asher never lied, with the exception of being a squib. He was a wizard but lost his magic. There was no classification for someone like that, so Rowena called him a squib."

"But if he was with you with the Founders, then how did he get the branding that predates the founders?"

"This must have happened after he left. I was with him for fifteen years and he never had this branding before."

"Fifteen years? How can he be-"

"Time does not flow the same when you are not in your designated time. I have already told you more than I intended, Hermione. The rest is up to you to ask Asher." Poppy left to her office without another word.

Hermione sat down in a chair next to Asher's bed. She was confused. In one hand, Asher was her friend and she trusted him, but on the other, Asher never told her the whole truth. Could she trust Asher? He had never harmed her, but she wished Asher had told her the truth.

"Would you have believed him?" a male voice asked. It was the same one as the one in the Room of Requirement. Hermione turned to see a fully dressed knight in silver armor. Around the edges were golden lining and the shoulder pads had a symbol of a red and white dragon fighting each other. The man was tall and stocky with a handsome face and blond hair. He walked with a sense of royalty about himself. "Would you have believed him if he told you the truth?"

Hermione wondered what the answer would be. She was still not ready to believe that Asher was a time traveler. It was theoretically impossible to travel further than a year back in time. All the books she had read about time travel stated that.

"If it is taking you this long to come up with an answer, then the answer is 'no'," the man answered for her. Hermione looked towards the man again and saw that he held a golden sword with a golden scabbard and hilt. Hermione spun her head over to Asher to pick up his necklace. It was the same exact sword. "This is Excalibur, the sword of Protectors. And I am Justus Kael, co-creator and spiritual embodiment of Excalibur. It is my pleasure to be of your acquaintance, Hermione Jane Granger."

Hermione was at a loss of words. Not only was the man standing before her suppose to be dead, but held Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur which is said to be cast back into the lake. The scabbard was supposedly lost after Mordred stole it, but everything was here.

Justus studied Hermione. She was a growing girl that one day would become a beautiful woman. However she was malnourished and probably suffering from a dreadful past. That would be the only reason Asher was able to call forth the magnificent sword. Justus only passed the sword if the chosen wielder has a strong wish to protect someone. Asher had called the sword to his aid once before, thus making a contract between them as long as they lived. But Justus could tell Asher was in no shape and form to wield his glorious creation.

However, what was most intriguing was the necklace that hung around her neck. It was the heirloom of Guinevere given to Asher before he left. The only people who could see it are the descendants of Guinevere and Lancelot, but not many descendants still live. Hermione must be one of the descendants and the sole person Asher would give his life to protect. She would also have to be the person Guinevere named her heir. This would be interesting.

"As you might suspect, the boy lying in the bed before you is indeed Blaz the Protector. The proof is the Roman Branding you see on his back and the magical branding on his right shoulder." Justus raised his sword and a magical tattoo of a red and white dragon fighting appeared on Asher's right shoulder.

"Who is he? Asher Prince or Blaz the Protector?" Hermione asked. Meeting Poppy had made her confused, but the man only raised more question in her mind.

Justus looked at Hermione as he lowered his sword and said, "It does not matter what his name is. I call him 'Blaz' because he is an 'unwavering protector'. But a name is only a way of identifying someone. Asher Prince is a name he created to escape his previous life. I suppose he has told you stories of the-boy-who-lived?" Hermione nodded and Justus continued, "Well that is because Asher is the-boy-who-lived. Evidently his true name is Harry James Potter."

"What? That means that the same Harry Potter that plays pranks on me is the person laying right here?" Hermione screamed.

"No. Blaz is from another world. So you can think of there's two Harry Potters in this world. But that should not be important. Names can be cast away at a whim, but the person they are to others cannot. Think hard, Hermione, on who Asher Prince is to you. Blaz would never betray you, he cares for you far too much. And I think you value his friendship far more than you would admit. Take care of Blaz, Hermione, as he will forever take care of you."

Hermione watched as the man walked away and fade into the background. She wondered why the man had appeared to speak to her. She wondered why people told her about Asher's past. But it was not helping thinking of an answer by herself. So Hermione got up from her seat and walked to Poppy's office. She knocked on the door which just opened letting her in.

"Hello, Hermione, what can I do for you?" Poppy asked as she sat at her desk.

Hermione walked up shyly and sat herself down in one of the wooden chairs. "Well, Madam Pomfrey, I wanted to ask why you told me about Asher..."

Poppy almost wanted to blurt out her first thought, but refrained. Hermione and Asher had to figure that out for themselves. She had high hopes that Asher or Hermione would figure it out soon. "I have no doubt in my mind that Asher wanted to tell you all of this, but because of who he was, and the fear of pushing you away, Asher did not tell you."

"Who is Asher?" Hermione asked. She still had no idea who the boy who had been protecting her for the past few months is. Asher was kind to her, and gave her gifts. He was always there to make her laugh or comfort her. She had a growing suspicion that it was Asher who held her after the nightmares and sang to her the lullabies. He was someone who always seemed to understand her and help her with her problems. He was her friend. The first one she had in a long time.

"Asher is a kind young boy with a terrible past. He was taken from a world he understood and placed into a world he did not and forced to fight and make sacrifices. But Asher is courageous, like a Gryffindor, sly like a Slytherin, intelligent like a Ravenclaw and warm-hearted like a Hufflepuff. He is tired of making others sacrifice themselves for his wellbeing and will willingly take a hit for a friend. But this is the Asher I know. This however, may or may not change your mind of who he is. Think of who Asher is to you and you will find your answer." Poppy just watched as Hermione returned to her seat next to Asher's bed. For a Ravenclaw, Hermione is sure dense. However the developments between Asher and Hermione would be interesting to watch. In another world Asher and Hermione were best friends.

Hermione found her way back to the seat next to Asher. Her mind was spinning wildly and questions and feelings were mixed together. She did not know what to think, what to say or what to do when Asher woke up. "So, Poppy and Justus told you who I am." Hermione nearly jumped out of her seat. She had no idea how long she waited, but it was dark already.

"Um... yeah." Hermione replied with her face lowered. Asher Prince, the boy who lay on the bed before her, had the branding that marked her lineage. He was bound to Excalibur and a protector. He was a time traveler.

"Sorry for never telling you," Asher apologized unexpectedly.

Hermione looked up at Asher who was now lying on his back. He had one arm covering his eyes. It only took five simple words to cast away all her thoughts and worries. Hermione knew who Asher Prince is to her. He was her first friend. The one who protected her. The one who made her smile. The one who would hold her when she was cold and shivering. The one who is the light shining brightly in her darkest hour. The person she wanted by her side as long as she lived.

"It's alright," Hermione said as she pulled Asher's arm away to look into his mismatched eyes. "Thank you for always protecting me, Asher. I wish someday I can do the same." Nothing else in the world seemed to matter anymore. Hermione was here with Asher by her side and she promised to herself that she would make it so they were never too far from each other again.


	27. Chapter 27

Lucius Malfoy walked down the hall of Hogwarts with his head up high and a sense of pride in the air. He remembered the other Triwizard Tournaments that have taken place, but there was one particular Triwizard Tournament that was burned into his mind. It was one that took place in another life. His Lord had given him the soul of his dead self from a parallel universe, one where his lord was defeated by a boy called the-boy-who-lived. Only bits and pieces of the memory remained and he could not remember the face of the-boy-who-lived or his real name.

However, unlike the tournament of the other world, where they had Barty Crouch Junior masquerade as Moody, Lucius was able to secure Moody's help without much effort. Things were going along as planned and soon the ideal world of his dreams would become reality.

Earlier he had passed by the bloodtraitor, Arthur Weasley, but that man was so low in the Ministry of Magic that nothing he did could alter the plans. He walked into the Great Hall and saw that majority of the students from Durmstrang sat at the Gryffindor table, and not the Slytherin table. Igor should have trained his students better than that. However, that was of little consequence. Lucius felt as if nothing could go wrong until he heard an unsettling rumor about the assault of a young girl by his elder son's syndicate.

Lucius approached Rufus, Dolores, Fudge, Crouch Senior, Igor and the others sitting at the Headmaster's table and gave a curt bow. "It is a pleasure to be here once again, but you will have to excuse me for I have some family business to take care of." The four gave a nod and Lucius was on his way towards the Slytherin table. He saw Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini and Nott, all of who's father were Lucius's companions, but his younger son, Draco, was missing from the group.

But Lucius was far to angry at his older son to care where his miscreant son was. He hated the boy ever since Draco was born. One of the memories of Lucius's other soul that was vividly clear was when another Draco killed Lucius. From that point on, he cast his second son aside and focused primarily on his elder son. As Lucius reached Falco, he grabbed his son by the arm and pulled him from his seat. "We need to talk. _Now!_" Lucius said with an emphasis on the last word.

Lucius led his son out of the Great Hall and into an empty room. "Have you any IDEA what you have done?" Lucius shouted in full fury as he grabbed his sons cloak and slammed Falco against the wall. Falco's eyes flew open in fear as a burn on his cheek appeared.

"She's just a Mudblood! And she was the only way I could get to Asher Prince!"

"Do you know why the Ashwinder protects her?" Lucius asked as he pushed his wand against his son's burn. Falco shook his head in silent response. "Do you know why our Lord set her free ten years ago?"

"No..." Falco replied in a shaken voice filled with fear. He had seen his father angry before, but never like this. This only meant that Falco had almost screwed up the plans.

"This Mudblood is one of our Lords successful experiments. She is also the one our Lord has chosen as his seventh wife. If you pull this stunt again, I will let our Lord deal with you."

Lucius let go of his son and let Falco fall to the ground. As he turned to walk away, his son asked, "Then why do you treat Draco the same? Isn't he also one of the successful experiments?"

Lucius glanced back and glared with his cold silver eyes at his son. Falco felt even greater fear from this stare than that of his father's angry eyes. "Have I ever beat the boy until he was half dead? No. Have I ever slashed open his flesh? No. Have I ever left him injured and running for his life? No. I do not deny beating Draco, but I know the limits."

Lucius flipped his cape and stalked off leaving Falco alone in the room. As he returned to the Great Hall, he noticed Harry Potter was not there. He grimaced at the thought of his younger son's friendship with the boy. It was not like he hated Harry, since his father James Potter was a man under his service. In fact, Lucius was sure one day Harry would join him and his cause. He did not like their hanging around because friendship weakens the mind. As does love. Neither traits were needed.

Lucius and his companions would create a world in which the strong survive. It would be a world where only one rule applied: become stronger than your adversaries. Survival of the fittest. The world Salazar Slytherin envisioned. Only the most powerful could rule, and that would be his Lord, the heir of Slytherin. Muggles would be their slaves and witches and wizards would rule in dominance. Of course Lucius would continue to strive for power and status. Power to stay his Lord's right hand man and reach a status so high that his family would serve his Lord in the generations to come.

His son, Falco, had done well for himself in his years at Hogwarts. The Corvus Syndicate was formed early on and an Inner Circle held those Falco thought worthy of the position. They secretly ruled over Hogwarts and kept order, with the exception of being able to keep Harry and Draco's mischief in check. Even old Rufus succumbed to Falco's reign as did the other professors. This was how Lucius was able to secure Moody's help.

As Lucius reached the Headmaster's table once more, he noticed two faces he had not recognized before. One was a man sitting next to Lily Evans with short black hair and deep black eyes. The man had sharp facial qualities, but wore a smile across his face as he chatted with Lily Evans and Sirius Black. He had a medium frame and looked as if he had a well nourished and fit body. This man was not someone that would be useful to Lucius's cause. He would have to show that man his place. Soon. Before he goes about and corrupts any of the students. Especially Harry or his worthless son Draco.

The other man sat to the right of Sirius. He had long black hair streaked back messily as several clumps of hair dangled in front of his face. He had sharp facial figures like the man before, but a bit more stockier and younger than the other man. His body was muscular and it showed as he wore a shirt that was a perfect fit around his body. Lucius felt the man was far to muscular to be a wizard, as wizards hardly ever needed to enter close hand combat. However, it was not to say that Lucius and other witches and wizards were not trained in close quarter combat with hand weapons. Magicians valued finesse over strength.

The younger man turned and their eyes met. Lucius straightened his back, but not by much since he always walked around with a straight back. The man's stare changed quickly to a glare. For a moment, Lucius thought he saw a pair of silver eyes. It was in that moment that Lucius also thought the man looked very much like an older version of his worthless son, Draco. But the man's eyes were pure black and the glare went away as the man turned back to his meal and conversation with Lily, Sirius and the other man.

Lucius turned the other way and made his way to a seat next to Igor. "Hello, Igor. I see majority of your students are sitting at the Gryffindor table," Lucius said with a neutral tone.

"This was no thanks to your eldest son, Falco. Had he not pulled his stunt earlier, Victor would have gladly sat at your house's table and those around him," Igor responded with the same neutral tone. "There were many witnesses to your son's stunt. One of which is missing from the Gryffindor table."

Lucius just eyed the Durmstrang Institutes's Headmaster. He had not known his son's screw up was worse than just rumors. There were actual witness to the event. Lucius would have to have another talk with Falco later.

Rufus stood up from his seat and began, "As you all know, this year Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament. Students from Beaxbaton Academy and Durmstrang have joined us in this glorious event. And now I present to you all the Goblet of Fire!" With a flick of his wand, a large goblet appeared before him burning a blue flame. The students stared in awe. Few in the room have seen this magnificent magical scupture. "Starting tomorrow and until supper on Halloween night, any student brave enough may step up and place their names into the Goblet of Fire. If there are no other questions, then let us feast!"

The students dug into their meal as soon as thousands of plates filled the four giant tables that stretched across the hall. The tables were extended to accommodate their guests from the two other wizarding schools. The students talked about themselves, some boasting that they would become one of the Champions to represent their school, but Lucius already knew which two students from Hogwarts would become Champion. He watched as Alastor Moody walked through a back door into the Great Hall. When their eyes met, Alastor gave an uncomfortable grunt and turned away.

"How is everything?" Igor asked as he cut himself a piece of meat. Lucius was well aware of what Igor was referring to as he turned back to start his own meal. He looked down the table where he saw Crouch look over and nod. Rufus and Fudge ignored his gaze.

"Fine," Lucius responded as he turned back to continue his meal. "Everything's going perfectly fine."


End file.
